Advent's Calendar 2011
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Three time travellers create chaos at Hogwarts. Will they be able to contribute to the greater good? Set in Harry's third Hogwarts year. Completely AU, partly OOC, time travel, sick!Harry. A daily page story
1. 1 December

**Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
>I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.<em>

**1 December**

Harry Potter let out a long sigh as he began to busy himself in the Potions classroom gathering the ingredients to once again brew the potion for the mermaid's flu. '_Such a waste of time_,' he thought angrily. '_I already managed to brew it this morning, and it's not my fault that I caught a cold because Oliver made us practise in the snow for hours last night_.' When he had accidentally sneezed into the cauldron, the professor had assigned him the detention.

"Get on with it Potter," Snape growled. "I don't have all night. When you're done, the cauldrons over there need to be cleaned... without magic," he added, holding out his hand, demanding "Hand over your wand."

Harry grudgingly laid his wand into the professor's hand, before he let his eyes wander to the pile of cauldrons waiting for him in the sink. '_Cool, just when I wanted to go to bed early_,' he thought. '_Oh well, let's get over with it_.'

During the next few hours, Harry worked diligently, knowing that the professor wouldn't let him out of his detention before even the last cauldron would be clean. '_At least he works in his office instead of continuously breathing into my neck_,' he thought in relief.

Shortly after the beginning of curfew, Harry heard someone enter the professor's office, excitedly telling the Potions Master about a huge fight with a group of Ravenclaws in the entrance hall. Snape strode into the classroom, sniffling at Harry's potion, before he banished the light orange liquid with a flick of his wand.

"Get on with it, Potter," he sneered. "I'll be back in a while."

However, half an hour later, the professor had yet to return, when all of a sudden, there was a knock at the classroom door and Hermione entered the room.

"Harry, are you not done here?" she queried in a slightly reproachful tone, glancing around the classroom. "It's already beyond curfew. Is Professor Snape not here?" Seeing Harry shake his head, she stepped next to the boy, pulled her wand and pointed it at the still unclean cauldrons. An instant later, everything was clean and properly piled up on the desk next to the sink.

"Hermione, you're awesome. How do you know all these spells? Well, anyway, thanks a lot," Harry said gratefully.

"You're welcome, Harry," Hermione replied, inefficiently trying to hide that she blushed at the unexpected compliment. "I was worried, when you weren't back at curfew, especially knowing that you weren't feeling well earlier."

"Yeah, let's go back to the common room. I still need..." He interrupted himself, letting out a groan. "Oh no, Hermione, I need my wand back. I have to wait for Snape."

The two third-years let themselves sink into chairs, readying themselves for a longer wait. After a few minutes of quiet, Hermione slowly spoke up. "Harry, why don't you call Dobby and ask him to fetch your wand for you?"

Harry looked at his friend in awe, before he followed her advice. An instant later, he accepted his wand from Dobby.

Harry profusely thanked the small elf, sighing in relief as he followed Hermione through the classroom, ready to leave the dungeons. However, all of a sudden, they heard strange noises coming from one side of the room. '_What the..._' Harry thought, quickly turning around. However, he could not see anything unusual.

"It comes from the ingredients cupboard," Hermione whispered, exchanging an uneasy look with Harry as more sounds could be heard from inside the cupboard.

To their surprise, they suddenly could hear someone talk. "Just because you always have to bicker instead of concentrating on what you're doing for once," a female voice said, sounding reproachfully.

"I didn't do anything. She pushed me," another voice complained.

"It's not my fault that you all had to follow me into the cupboard. Why did you even close the door?"

"No one did. Still it's always when I'm together with the two of you that strange things happen," the first voice continued to rant.

Hermione and Harry grinned at each other, following the conversation from inside the cupboard with amusement.

"Oh well, but you have to admit that you'd get around many interesting adventures if we didn't provide some fun," another voice replied, chuckling. "Why don't we just get out of here?"

Harry stepped nearer towards Hermione, when the door to the ingredients cupboard opened and three girls stepped out. They did not even take notice of the two third-years but continued their discussion.

"What happened? The Potions classroom looks different from before."

"Maybe it took us back in time," one of the other girls said, thoughtfully.

'_How is that possible? That's ..._' Harry thought as realisation set in, staring at the three visitors in confusion.

"I'd rather think that it took you sixty years into the future," Hermione threw in, smiling. "If I'm not completely mistaken, you're Minerva, Poppy and Rolanda."

_tbc..._

_Although I began to write this story months ago, due to health problems, I haven't been able to write more than the first five chapters yet; however, I will try to keep this up and post daily - for that my muse really needs your feedback. If you have any wishes about this story, please tell me. As long as it doesn't interfere with the main plot, I will consider your wishes. Thank you all..._


	2. 2 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>2 December<strong>

"Sixty years into the future?" the trio repeated simultaneously, glaring at Hermione in disbelief.

"Yes," she replied, clearly amused. "Do you want us to take you to your older selves? They're all..."

"Wait," Rolanda interrupted her, excitedly. "We're sixty years older now, and you know all of us? Wow..." She looked at her best friends, triumphantly. "How cool is that?"

Minerva and Poppy rolled their eyes. "I'm not sure if we should let us be seen by our older selves though," Rolanda continued. "Knowing Poppy and imagining her to be an elder lady..." Ignoring Poppy's huff, she continued, chuckling, "we better hide from them; otherwise, they'll make us go back right away. I think we ought to have some fun before travelling back though."

"That might be true," Minerva agreed, questioningly looking at Poppy, who nodded her consent.

"Well then let's get out of here, before Professor Snape returns," Hermione said in determination. "He'd surely be happy to introduce you to your older selves."

"Dobby," Harry called the elf, who popped up in front of him instantly. "Could you please take the five of us to some safe place, if possible somewhere near Gryffindor?"

The small elf bowed. "Of course Harry Potter. Does Harry Potter wants me to makes a room for your guests to stay for a while?"

Harry agreed, and Dobby told him to wait for a few minutes, before he returned and consecutively popped the five students to a small apartment consisting of a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom, which he and a few other elves had hurried to make. "This is on the same floor as the Gryffindor common room, just a bits farther, and no one usually comes heres. Also the door is only visible to yous," he explained, seemingly proud at his efforts. Before the group could even thank him, he quickly popped away.

"Now can you please explain how you managed to come into the future?" Hermione asked eagerly, eyeing the three girls with interest and confusion, when Minerva and Rolanda simultaneously explained about their accident in the ingredients cupboard.

"Nonsense," Poppy interrupted her friends, shaking her head in annoyance. "You put up a fight, when you were carrying two potions, which shouldn't have been mixed and poured over us on top of it."

"At least you seem to be unharmed," Hermione said soothingly. "Do you have any idea what kind of antidote you need to return back to your time?"

"I'll have to do some research. Unfortunately, my friends are absolute idiots at Potions," Poppy replied, sighing. "Would you be willing to help me?"

Harry, who had remained quiet so far, gave Hermione a proud look and said, "Hermione will be able to assist. She is the best of our class, and last year, in our second year, she managed to brew polyjuice potion just on her own."

Poppy let out a snort. "We're fifth years, but my friends aren't even able to brew a simple headache potion." She gave Harry a sharp look. "Are you feeling all right? You don't look well."

"I'm fine," Harry replied quickly, while Minerva and Rolanda let out a simultaneous groan.

"Beware of Poppy," Rolanda explained, chuckling. "She always waits for a chance to check on people. She wants to become the Healer here after her grandmother."

"Well then congratulations Poppy," Hermione replied, smiling. "You're doing a wonderful job and helped me enormously last year."

"Really?" Poppy asked, seemingly getting excited. "No Rolanda, I don't want any comment from you right now," she added, glaring at her friend, who was grinning broadly.

"You mean about declaring people dead because you're unable to properly take their temperatures?" Rolanda then said, chuckling. "No no, sorry, I won't say anything. Hermione, just tell me one thing. I'm sure Minny will be a professor in the future, but what about me? I don't excel at any subject."

"You're the flying instructor," Harry threw in, "and a very good one at that."

While Rolanda did a happy dance, everyone else's attention was drawn to Harry, when he could not prevent himself from letting out a series of harsh coughs, causing Poppy to draw her wand.

"Harry, wouldn't it be better to allow Poppy to check on you and confirm that it's only a cold instead of having to go to the hospital wing in the morning?" Hermione said firmly, before she turned to Poppy. "Harry has a very bad immune system due to his upbringing with his relatives, who never properly cared for him. Therefore, he catches some bug every other week."

Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance, but silently having to agree with his friend, he slightly nodded at Poppy, thinking '_Definitely better her than her older self_.'

Poppy eagerly waved her wand over Harry, before she pointed it at his head several times, shaking her head at the result, seeing that the numbers, which appeared from the tip of her wand, were different each time. Finally, she lit the tip of her wand and looked into Harry's ears, eyes and mouth. "I think that it's only a cold, but I'm not sure, because I'm really not good..." She interrupted herself and remained thoughtful for a minute, ignoring that everyone was looking at her in expectation. "Sorry, Harry, could you once again call your elf and ask him to add a small potions lab like the one in the hospital wing to these rooms?"

HP

An hour later, Poppy and Hermione were busily brewing a Pepperup potion, while Harry was curled up in his seat, fast asleep, and Minerva and Rolanda were making plans for a prank that involved the whole school and would hopefully allow them to freely roam the castle without being seen by their older selves.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments, here and on Facebook. I really appreciate them!_


	3. 3 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>3 December<strong>

Severus Snape strode through the empty halls, wearing a grim expression as he tried to shake off the thought about the ridiculous fighting of some of his older students with a group of Ravenclaws. He had spent the last two hours in the hospital wing, helping Madam Pomfrey to undo several dozen spells, which the students had cast at each other. "Dunderheads," he mumbled, glancing back over his left shoulder, somehow having the inclination as if someone was following him. However, he could not see anyone in the faint moonlight that was dimly lighting the halls through the large windows.

Swiftly crossing the entrance hall, he turned to the stairs leading down to the dungeons, still unable to shake off the feeling as if another living being was nearby. _'Something must be there_,' he thought and lit the tip of his wand, rolling his eyes in annoyance, when an older wizard in one of the portraits to the right side of the corridor growled at him.

"What do you think you're doing, professor? It's the middle of the night, and we want to sleep. Turn that light off."

"These young people have no respect," a witch of about the same age complained.

"Sorry," Severus mumbled and hurriedly extinguished the light, however, leaving his wand in his hand, somehow unable to trust the sudden silence. He immediately knew that he had been right, when he heard faint noises from behind him. Turning on his heels, he once again lit the tip of his wand and pointed it at the spot, from where the sounds originated. _'Revelo humanum_,' he thought as he cast the silent spell.

No human being appeared in the circle of light that his wand illuminated on the dungeon floor. Even if he moved his wand around the corridor, he could not see the expected figure of a student on a nightly jaunt. Instead, a barely audible sound that his mind interpreted as that of a cat penetrated his ears.

_'Revelo Animagum'_ he thought, again waving his wand around the hall.

All of a sudden, a small, brown animal appeared in the light; however, before Severus could even realise what it was let alone took a closer look at the animal, it jumped out of the circle and vanished in the dark. _'That was a squirrel'_ Severus thought in disbelief. _'Who in the world is a squirrel Animagus?_'

"Transform back into your human form" he demanded, waving his wand in the direction, into which the squirrel had vanished from sight.

"Ahhh, who is disturbing us at this time of the night?" an older witch asked lazily, glaring at him from one of the paintings.

"Oh shut up and go back to sleep," Severus replied, impatiently, almost jumping on the spot when he felt a slight breeze over the top of his head. Pointing his wand upwards, he saw a white bird flying right in front of him. _'A dove?_' he thought, incredulously. '_What is happening here tonight? Am I delirious?_' He looked at the dove that slowly flew ahead of him with a combination of disbelief and annoyance._ 'Maybe I'm really seeing things. It's very unlikely that we have a squirrel or a dove Animagus at Hogwarts. Perhaps I really need some sleep._' He cast the Tempus charm at the nearest wall, sighing upon realising that it was almost three o'clock in the morning.

Only when he wondered why it had become so late and recalled the earlier nightly events, he suddenly remembered that Harry Potter was still serving detention in his classroom. _'Oh no, who knows in what kind of mess the dunderhead will have left my classroom by now_,' he thought in annoyance and hurried through the corridor, not caring about any sounds coming from any animal that could be spending the night in the Hogwarts halls.

However, when he stormed into the classroom, he saw that it was empty, that all the dirty cauldrons, which Harry Potter was supposed to clean, were properly put away, and that the door to the ingredients cupboard was standing far open. _'What the..._' his mind screamed as he strode through the room, taking in the mess inside the ingredients cupboard in anger.

"One hundred points from Gryffindor," he growled, before he waved his wand around the cupboard in absolute annoyance, unaware of the fact that three young witches were just standing in front of the room, charming the entrance to his classroom to prepare their first prank to be performed in the future.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments. See you tomorrow :-)_


	4. 4 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>4 December<strong>

When Harry trailed behind his friends towards the Great Hall in the morning, feeling extremely tired but glad that his cold seemed to be at least much better than in the previous evening, even if not completely gone, he almost crashed into Hermione as his friend stopped dead in her tracks.

"What..." she uttered in confusion, pointing at several cats that were running along the corridor, before she interrupted herself, when Ron all of a sudden vanished from the sight. "Ron," she squeaked, casting Harry a terrified look.

'_Oh no; there he is. He is a cat as well_,' Harry realised, taking in the marmalade cat on the floor in front of him in shock. However, before he could do as much as warn Hermione, the girl turned into a Kneazle cat like her familiar, causing Harry to unconsciously chuckle at the sight.

_'They all change into cats when they pass in front of that painting_,' he thought, looking at the painting to the right side with suspicion. However, the two witches in the painting seemed to be fast asleep. Realising that there was no way to attend his classes without passing the hall in front of the painting, Harry finally followed his friends with apprehension. Although he had observed the others transform into cats, he was terrified when he suddenly felt his body change into a feline form. _'Completely black fur_,' he thought, glancing down at his four legs.

To his surprise, it was more difficult to walk on four legs than on two, and he ended up lying on his belly every now and then; however, by the time they had carefully descended the grand staircase and reached the Great Hall, he had almost become used to it.

As soon as the students entered the Great Hall, they automatically transformed back into their human forms. _'Thank Merlin_,' Harry thought as he slipped into the empty seat between Hermione and Ron.

"Was it your idea to make everyone transform into cats?" Hermione asked sternly, glaring at the Weasley twins, who were sitting opposite of the trio.

"No..."

"... unfortunately..."

"... this brilliant idea..."

"... was not ours," the twins replied, seemingly disappointed.

"It was the painting that is next to the Gryffindor common room," Harry spoke up.

However, Hermione disagreed immediately. "No, I don't think so. Everyone, even the Slytherins, were cats this morning."

_'That's true_,' Harry had to admit. _'I was sure that it had something to do with the painting though_.' However, he did not voice his thoughts but tried to force a few spoonfuls of yoghurt into his mouth, although he did not have any appetite.

"But who might be behind this, and how did they manage to make everyone change?" Hermione wondered aloud.

Unfortunately, no one could come up with a reasonable explanation, before breakfast was over. Harry slowly followed his friends out of the Great Hall, somehow not feeling as well as he had felt earlier. _'Apparently, the Pepperup potion only helped so much_,' he realised, noticing that his chest hurt a bit whenever he swallowed.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt his body transform again, and only now realised that everyone in front of him was back to their feline forms. Only when they entered the Transfiguration classroom for their first morning class, they automatically returned to their human forms.

HP

It was only at dinnertime that the Headmaster commented on the prank that someone seemed to have played on the whole school. "I would like to congratulate those, who are responsible for the Transfiguration charm that has been placed on the entire Hogwarts halls, for a well-done prank," Dumbledore said, smirking. "However, I believe that it is enough now and ask you to reverse what you have done within one hour from now."

However, in spite of Professor Dumbledore's instructions, everyone continued to involuntarily transform upon entering the halls. The only exception, as far as Harry was concerned, was the small part of the corridor between the Gryffindor common room and the guest quarters, where the three time travellers were staying. As soon as they had finished their homework for the next day, Hermione and Harry announced that they wanted to study in the library, shrugging when Ron decided to not accompany them.

"We can't do more than invite him," Hermione said matter-of-factly and ushered Harry out of the common room.

When they arrived in the guest quarters, the three witches were already waiting for them.

"I'm sorry, but we had to finish our homework first," Hermione said, apologetically.

"No problem," Minerva said gently. "Are you ready for a stroll around the lake in our feline forms?"

"But the charm or whatever it is only works in the corridors," Hermione contradicted, looking questioningly at the time travellers.

The three witches chuckled. "Believe us, it'll work," Rolanda said, reassuringly. "Maybe only today though; provided that we manage to come up with something different for tomorrow." Ignoring Poppy's reprimanding look, she added, "I've already lots of ideas for good pranks."

"Harry, did the Pepperup potion work? Are you feeling all right?" Poppy suddenly asked, casting the boy a critical look.

"Yes, thanks a lot; I'm fine," Harry lied, pondering Rolanda's words as he slowly followed his new friends out onto the grounds as a black cat with emerald green eyes.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments. See you tomorrow :-)_


	5. 5 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>5 December<strong>

When Harry woke up in the morning, he full heartedly regretted having spent half the night roaming the grounds in his feline forms together with the three time travellers. _'I wished I could just stay in bed_,' he thought, not even feeling very enthusiastic to find out what kind of prank the three girls had planned for the day. _'They should be busy finding a solution to go back to their own time_,' he mused, _'but it seems that Poppy is the only responsible of them_.'

"Harry," Hermione's voice suddenly penetrated his mind. "Come on, hurry, you already missed breakfast," she said urgently. "Potions is going to begin in thirteen minutes."

"Oh no," Harry groaned and quickly changed, gratefully noticing that Hermione had retreated to the common room to give him some space. A minute later, he stumbled downstairs, still trying to get his left arm into the sleeve of his robe as he hurried through the portrait hole behind the girl. He was slightly disappointed, seeing that she, once again, changed into a cat. _'I thought they were going to think of something else. This transformation hurts_,' he thought, feeling completely annoyed as he sensed his body transform.

Glad that Ron had reserved seats in the Potions classroom for Hermione and him, Harry gratefully slipped into the seat next to his friend, looking up startled upon hearing his name.

"Potter!" the professor barked, casting him a menacing glare.

"Oui Monsieur," Harry replied in surprise, wondering what he had done now to anger the Potions Master.

"Mr. Potter," the professor sneered, "ten points from Gryffindor for your insolence."

"Mais professor," Harry contradicted in confusion, "je voudrais seulement..."

However, the professor interrupted him harshly. "Another twenty points from Gryffindor for disturbing my class by speaking nonsense. And since you saw fit to release yourself from your detention on Tuesday after making a complete mess in the ingredients cupboard, you're going to serve another detention tonight."

"Mais Monsieur," Harry began to protest, feeling very upset, but shut up when Hermione gave him a light kick.

"Harry," Hermione whispered to him, placing her forefinger over her lips, "don't say anything else. You are speaking French, and everyone else is too," she explained, pointing to Draco and Blaise, who were sitting on the other side of the corridor, "and apparently, the professor doesn't understand us."

'_French_,' Harry mused, casting his friend a surprised look. _'But I never learned to understand French, let alone speak it_,' he thought, wondering if that was a result of the prank, which Rolanda had promised. Determined to not attract any more attention during the class, Harry tried to concentrate on his brewing, confirming from time to time that Hermione's potion looked the same as his own.

"Well, at least we can still understand English," Hermione said thoughtfully, when they were discussing the matter on their way up to the Transfiguration classroom. "The only problem is that the teachers don't understand us."

"At least Snape doesn't," Ron through in, grimly. "And McGonagall will be in an awful mood when she gets to know how many points Snape took from Gryffindor."

However, the Gryffindor head was already aware of the fact that all students suddenly seemed to be able to speak fluent French and only French, so that she merely frowned upon taking in the status of the tiny copy of the hour glass on her desk.

In spite of holding staff meetings at every free moment, until the evening, the teachers were clueless as to who had placed a possible language charm on the students and how to undo it. At dinner time, Professor Dumbledore once again addressed the students and instructed the culprits to reverse their prank.

"If this continues, the students responsible for the pranks will be suspended from Hogwarts until Christmas," the Headmaster finished his speech.

Harry had to try hard not to chuckle, which caused Hermione to cast him a suspicious look. "Harry, don't tell me you know anything about it," she whispered, glaring at the boy.

"No no," he replied quickly, resolving to keep the time travellers' secret to himself.

To his surprise and relief, when he entered the Potions Master's office on time for his detention, Professor Snape was well able to communicate with Harry. However, the professor was not willing to listen to Harry's explanation that it had not been him, who had entered the professor's office to retrieve his wand, but an elf, and that he hadn't set a foot into the ingredients cupboard either.

While he was diligently cleaning dirty cauldrons, Harry's thoughts wandered to the next Hogsmeade day that was scheduled for Saturday morning, which was only two days away. _'This time, I'll definitely go to Hogsmeade_,' he resolved. _'I need to buy Christmas presents for Hermione and Ron; maybe also for Ginny and the members of the Quidditch team. If I take my invisibility cloak and use the passage to Honeydukes, it shouldn't be a problem._' However, when he considered the matter, an idea popped up in his head. _'Maybe I should invite Poppy, Rolanda and Minerva to accompany me. They mustn't be seen either, so we could take the passage together_.'

However, when he discussed the matter with Hermione, the girl shook her head in annoyance. "Harry, don't forget who they are. If you tell them about the secret corridor, our teachers in this time will be aware of it. Remember that they'll go back to their time and grow up to who they are now. Do you think they're going to allow you to go through the passage if they know about it?"

"But apparently they don't know who is playing all the pranks," Harry contradicted, pondering the matter.

Hermione let out a long sigh. "So that means it is them," she said, reproachfully, glaring at Harry. "Well, I suppose that the instant the three of them travel back to the past, their older selves will suddenly know everything. So as much as I love being together with them, I think we should be careful around them, especially concerning unapproved activities."

"Hmmm, that's true," Harry had to admit, trying in vain to concentrate on his Transfiguration homework.

Even when he accompanied his friends to the entrance hall in his feline form on Saturday morning, he was still indecisive if it was wise to go to Hogsmeade at all or if the older versions of the trio remembered about the matter and were going to catch him in flagranty at Honeydukes. However, when he was still lingering in the entrance hall after observing Professors McGonagall and Flitwick transfigure all students back into their human forms as they released them to Hogsmeade, he heard something that made him make up his mind.

_tbc..._

_A huge thanks to the few kind people who commented on the last chapter! _


	6. 6 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>6 December<strong>

McGonagall and Flitwick looked at each other in apparent relief, when the last students had left for Hogsmeade. Harry pressed himself firmly against the wall of a small alcove when he saw the Headmaster join the two Heads of House.

"Minerva, Filius, I'm at a loss," Dumbledore said gravely. "Who can be playing all these pranks?

Flitwick let out a snort. "Who else but the Weasley twins would be able to come up with so many ideas for pranks let alone play them as efficiently?"

McGonagall sighed deeply. "I completely agree, Filius. However, the twins have been stuck in the hospital wing since the day before yesterday, and you should know yourself that it is more than difficult to get around Poppy."

"Then it has to be someone else," Flitwick admitted, sounding surprised.

"Earlier, Percy Weasley came to my office to speak with me, but while I understand German, which the students were talking yesterday, I have no clue what language it is today."

"Apparently it is Bengali today, Albus," McGonagall informed her older colleague. "Malcolm told me as much and said that one of the other elves knew what language it was."

"Minerva, did Malcolm tell you from whom he received this information?" the Headmaster enquired with apparent interest.

"No, he said he had been sworn to secrecy by the other elf," McGonagall replied, sighing.

"So we need to ask the elves every morning, and then I can cast a charm at all teachers, so that they can understand and speak the specific '_language of the day'_," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Very well then, are the two of you chaperoning Hogsmeade today?"

"Yes," the Deputy Headmistress replied. "Severus will also join us, however, in his Animagus form in order to remain unrecognised and perhaps be able to catch Black." With that the two teachers hurriedly left the entrance hall.

Dumbledore thoughtfully stroked his beard and slowly turned to the corridor leading to the Headmaster's office, mumbling to himself, "Ten points to the respective House for each day, on which the pranksters come up with something new."

Harry chuckled. _'Leave it to Dumbledore to give rewards for a well done prank_,' he thought, swishing his tail in slight annoyance. Confirming that the hall was empty, Harry made his way to the third floor in order to enter the secret passage, glad that he had thought about bringing his invisibility cloak down with him before breakfast. However, when he stood in front of the statue that was hiding the entrance, he was still in his feline form. _'How am I supposed to transform back?_' he wondered, trying to wish himself back to his human form in vain.

Finally, he decided to just run down to Hogsmeade through the entrance doors and the usual road, thinking that no one would be able to recognize him as a cat anyway. However, when he stepped out onto the grounds, feeling his fur become wet from the pouring snow, his cat's instincts told him to return to the warmth of the castle right away.

HP

Without even thinking where he was heading, Harry instinctively climbed upstairs towards Gryffindor. However, when he reached the entrance to Gryffindor, he decided to visit the three guests, thinking _'Maybe they can tell me how to transform back if I wanted to go out onto the grounds. There is no need to tell them anything about going to Hogsmeade_.' He hesitantly knocked at the door of the secret guest quarters, inwardly sighing in relief when he was called in right away. To his surprise, Rolanda was alone in the room, reading what seemed to be a pile of hand-written parchments.

"Hello Harry," she said kindly, motioning him to take a seat. "Have you not gone to Hogsmeade?"

"No," Harry replied, sighing, and explained why he wasn't allowed to accompany his friends to the town.

"They think that convict wants to kill you?" Rolanda queried in disbelief. "If anyone would lock me into Azkaban, I'd just want to flee from there to get away from the Dementors, but not necessarily to kill anyone."

"Oh well, I think it's a bit stupid, too," Harry replied shortly, not willing to explain any more about himself. "Could you perhaps show me how you play all these pranks?" he quickly diverted the topic, looking at the witch with interest.

"Haha," Rolanda laughed, closing her book in determination. "Come on, sweetie; I'll show you how to cast them. Maybe we can do something else. I'm sick of all these cats anyway."

Together, they made their way through the empty halls of the castle, until Rolanda stopped in front of a huge painting, which to Harry's surprise was not far away from the entrance to the secret corridor on the third floor. She transformed back into her human form and then waved her wand at Harry, making him transform back as well.

"Thank you," Harry said in amazement. "Sorry, but can you teach me how to do this?" he queried, causing the girl to chuckle.

During the next thirty minutes, Harry eagerly learned from Rolanda how to cast a charm at the portrait, which made all paintings within the Hogwarts halls make every human being passing in front of them transform into a dog. The dog was the result of a heated discussion between the two friends, where Rolanda had wanted to turn everyone into squirrels, her own Animagus form, while Harry preferred griffins.

"After casting this spell, we placed a charm on the floors under all the classroom doors as well as the entrance doors to the Great Hall, which makes everyone transform back," she explained patiently. "The charm will still work, so there is no need to change that. However, if you want to leave the castle, you have to either change back yourself, or you need to ask someone."

_'Maybe I should just ask her_,' Harry thought, suddenly remembering the reason why he had wanted to go to Hogsmeade. _'Considering how eager she is to play pranks, she surely won't give me out to anyone_.' Hesitantly, he told Rolanda about the secret passage to Hogsmeade, eyeing the witch with uncertainty.

_tbc..._

_Sorry, but I can't promise if I will be able to update tomorrow, mainly because of health problems, but also because my muse is not very motivated due to the lack of interest in this story. _


	7. 7 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>7 December<strong>

Rolanda stared at Harry in disbelief, before she began to chuckle. "Harry, we better keep this a secret from my friends, just to be on the safe side. I believe that as soon as we go back to the past, and only then, the timeline will change and our older selves will know about everything we did here."

_'Oh, that might be true_,' Harry thought. "So are you sure that your older selves now won't know what I have told you about the passage or that we're just going to Hogsmeade together?" he queried.

"I'm pretty certain," Rolanda replied, patiently. "I've discussed the matter with Poppy and Minerva several times, and we came to the conclusion that it's fairly safe for us while we're here, apart from the fact that we must remain unrecognised. All right then, let's go."

Harry pulled the Marauders' Map out of his robe pocket and activated it to look for the code to open the secret passage. An instant later, he hesitantly climbed through the opening behind the one-eyed witch, closely followed by Rolanda. The two friends lit the tips of their wands and walked through the passage, so engrossed in their conversation about Quidditch tactics that they were surprised when the passage ended all of a sudden.

"According to the friends, who gave me the map, this leads to the cellar of Honeydukes," Harry explained, and the two friends carefully climbed up the stairway, hiding under the invisibility cloak as soon as they left the darkness and safety of the passage.

Harry looked around with amazement. Never before had he seen a shop like this. Interesting and delicious looking sweets were piled up everywhere. He would have loved to explore the sweet shop; however, it was very crowded, and he was afraid that the invisibility cloak would get pulled off if one of them bumped into anyone. _'Half of our class seems to be here_,' he thought, looking for Hermione and Ron in vain. He couldn't help chuckling when Rolanda snatched a liquorice wand off a nearby shelf and quickly grabbed a lollipop, right before they left the shop through the door, which was fortunately open. They both let out relieved sighs and grinned at each other, when they stepped out into the main street.

"Maybe we should content ourselves watching from outside instead of entering any shops," Rolanda whispered, chuckling.

"You're right," Harry agreed, slightly disappointed that he wouldn't be able to explore Zonko's, the joke shop, of which the twins had told him so much.

"He he, don't worry, we can still have some fun," Rolanda whispered. "Come with me. Poppy's grandmother lives at Hogsmeade, so I know this place very well. There are some smaller shops a bit away from the main street, which the normal Hogwarts students don't know. Let's go there."

Harry happily agreed and allowed Rolanda to lead him away from the crowded main street. They passed a huge park only to arrive in a small market place that was very lively but not that crowded.

"The people who live in Hogsmeade come to shop here, leaving the famous shops to the Hogwarts students and the tourists," Rolanda explained.

Harry glanced around with interest as they slowly walked around the place. It was surrounded by several shops. There was a shop that was selling magical animals. Harry shuddered at the sight of a snake with three heads that was slithering around the show window.

"That's a runespoor," Rolanda whispered, quickly leading him away.

They passed a small apothecary and a shop that distinctly reminded him of the horrors of Professor Trelawney's classroom. In front of the shop, a very old looking witch offered to read their hands, and in front of the next, which was completely black and looked like a vampire shop, a fire eater in equally black attire was performing his act. There was a shop with a show window that was full with magical antiquities, a music shop, a bookstore and a sweet shop, a bit smaller than Honeydukes. From the music shop he could hear Christmas songs, which came from instruments in the shop window that were charmed to play by themselves, and in front of the sweet shop, a wizard in Santa Claus costume was giving away sweets to the children.

"Wow, this place is even more interesting than the main street," he whispered to Rolanda, who agreed whole heartedly.

"We always come here," she admitted. "Come; let's have a look at the Christmas tree. We need to get some ideas how to prank the one in the Great Hall at Hogwarts."

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Harry hurried to keep up with the witch's pace; however, running whilst trying to remain hidden under the invisibility cloak was extremely difficult, and the two friends ended up bumping into each other and falling onto the ground.

Completely shocked, Harry stood up and like in a trance gathered his invisibility cloak from the ground. "Are you all right?" he asked, looking at Rolanda in concern.

"Yes, sorry Harry," Rolanda replied, smiling, before she seemed to realise where she was and quickly scrambled under the invisibility cloak that Harry was holding out invitingly.

Harry unconsciously rubbed his aching forehead. _'Thank Merlin we weren't on the main street_,' he mused, when his view fell on a black lynx that was sitting right in front of them, staring at them.

"You see the lynx there?" he whispered to Rolanda, who nodded, casting him a questioning look. _'Somehow it seems familiar_,' Harry thought, just when the lynx suddenly transformed into none other than the Potions Master of Hogwarts, Severus Snape. "Snape," he gasped, barely audibly.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw how Rolanda transformed into a squirrel that hurriedly jumped away, just before the professor extended his wand, pulling the invisibility cloak off Harry.

_tbc..._

_Thank you all so much for your kind encouragement. I will try to update again tomorrow... just no promise due to RL problems..._


	8. 8 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>8 December<strong>

"Potter!" the Slytherin Head hissed, towering menacingly over the boy. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"I need to buy my Christmas presents, sir," Harry replied, stubbornly.

"Ah, the whole magical world is doing everything to keep the saviour of the magical world safe, but the great Harry Potter has nothing better to do than to gallivant through Hogsmeade to buy Christmas presents, with a murderer on his heels," Snape sneered, glaring down at the son of his childhood enemy.

"I never asked for any of this, sir," Harry replied, returning an equally angry look. _'Rolanda is so lucky. I wished I could transform in an animal, too_,' he thought, resolving to ask the time travellers to teach him the Animagus transformation.

"Come with me," the professor demanded, pocketing the invisibility cloak.

"That's mine," Harry protested, holding out his hand.

"That's mine, SIR," he was corrected immediately. "I will hand this to the Headmaster, to where you're going to accompany me now. He was a fool giving this item to an ungrateful little brat like you. And now come on, or do I have to make you walk back to Hogwarts?"

Harry inwardly shivered at the professor's icy tone; however, he knew better than to contradict, and he somehow could not find the energy to pull through a fight with the professor.

"Who was the girl, who was together with you?" the professor enquired as he led Harry out of the small town through side streets.

"There was no one with me," Harry lied, forcing his eyes away from the professor's gaze.

"Who was it, and why did she hide together with you?" Snape insisted. "She transformed into a squirrel in front of my eyes."

"I don't know her, sir," Harry said, refusing to give out the time travellers.

"I can as well question you under Veritaserum," Snape threatened, glaring at him.

Harry merely shrugged, thinking, _'I just hope Dumbledore will never allow him to use Veritaserum on students_.'

During the rest of the way back to Hogwarts, professor and student remained quiet. Even if Harry had wanted to say anything, he wouldn't have been able to do so, as he had difficulties to adjust to the teacher's fast pace and to catch his breath. By the time they reached the castle, he was absolutely exhausted and wanted nothing more than to return to the common room and curl up in front of the fireplace.

However, the professor merely smirked upon noticing Harry's heavy breathing and sneered, "Apparently, the Gryffindor's Quidditch team practice does not give you enough exercise."

Harry contented himself to glare at the Slytherin Head, who began to stride towards Professor Dumbledore's office. As soon as they passed in front of the first painting, they unwillingly transformed into black dogs, causing the black-eyed dog to mumble something that sounded like "dunderheads."

When they reached the gargoyle that was guarding the office, Snape transformed into his human form and pointed his wand at Harry to change him back as well.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said gratefully, glad to be back on his two feet again. _'The dog form is as annoying as the cat form_,' he mused. _'I wonder what my Animagus form will be_.'

"Dementor's nougat," Snape told the gargoyle, causing Harry to inwardly groan at the old wizard's choice of password.

"The Headmaster is attending a Christmas party at the Ministry of Magic," the gargoyle informed them. "He won't be back before dinner."

"Very well then," Snape said, turning to Harry. "Tomorrow, you will serve detention in the Potions classroom. I expect you immediately after breakfast."

"Yes sir," Harry replied, inwardly groaning. _'As if I had nothing better to do on a Sunday_,' he thought, feeling extremely annoyed as he slowly made his way back to his common room on his furry dog feet, wondering if Rolanda had already returned from Hogsmeade.

Resisting the urge to take a nap in front of the fireplace, Harry only entered the common room in order to transform back to his human form, but then left again right away and hesitantly knocked at the door of the time travellers, sighing in relief when Rolanda opened the door.

"Thank Merlin you're back, Harry. What happened? I'm sorry for just transforming and fleeing from the spot," she apologized, while she ushered him inside.

Harry quickly explained, before he asked, "Where are Minerva and Poppy? Are they still brewing potions?"

Rolanda sighed. "They are trying to find a potion for us to travel back to the past, or better yet Poppy is trying, and Minerva and I are taking turns keeping her company. Today it's Minnie's turn." Seeing that Harry cast her a shocked look, she added soothingly, "Don't worry, we're not going to travel back before Christmas, even if we find a way. We just want to make sure that we can go back whenever we want or if the need arises."

"Oh that's good," Harry said, relieved. "It would be great if you could stay over the winter holidays. I'm sure we could have a lot of fun, and also, I'd like you to teach me the Animagus transformation, if you don't mind."

"Of course," Rolanda said, excitedly, jumped from her seat and opened the door to the small potions lab to inform her friends and ask Poppy to brew the Animagus potion for Harry.

HP

Two hours later, the three girls were standing around Harry, and Poppy handed him a phial containing a light blue liquid. "This will make you transform into the animal that you're going to be if you manage to become an Animagus," she explained, smiling. "It will only last for about five minutes."

Harry eyed the phial with suspicion; however, believing that Poppy knew what she was doing, he quickly downed the liquid, trying not to linger on the foul taste.

_tbc..._

_Thank you all for your kind comments... and sorry if this chapter was too boring... not feeling well... hopefully tomorrow will be better..._


	9. 9 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>9 December<strong>

If Harry had expected the transformation to be similar to the daily transformation into cats and dogs that he had been experiencing during the last days, he was mistaken. While his legs remained as such, his arms changed into wings, when his body shrank to its new form. _'Surely black fur again_,' he thought as the first pain of the transformation receded and he opened his eyes, only to realise that his vision had greatly expanded and that he was not spiking fur but feathers in all different shades of blue and green.

#What am I?# he queried in surprise, unaware that it came out as a beautiful trill.

"A water phoenix; how awesome!" Rolanda was the first to find words for his amazing Animagus form.

"A magical animal; very impressive. However, it will be very difficult to achieve this form," Minerva said thoughtfully, looking at him in awe.

After five minutes, Harry automatically transformed back into his human form. He could not believe his luck. _'A water phoenix; this is so cool_,' he thought, happily. During the rest of the afternoon, the three girls busied themselves giving him advices and making him practise. However, after three hours of trying to change his left arm into a wing, he was still unable to spike even the tiniest bit of blue feather.

"Don't worry, Harry," Rolanda said soothingly. "It took us years to become Animagi. You must be patient and practise every day."

"Yes, but only if one of us or someone else responsible, like, for example, Hermione, is with you, who can get help if anything happens," Poppy threw in, sternly. "Trying the Animagus transformation on your own is very dangerous."

"Okay," Harry agreed, resolving to only practise when he was in his bed at night.

"Now Harry, today, we're going to accompany you for dinner," Minerva changed the topic, grinning broadly. "We need to borrow your invisibility cloak though."

Harry cast her a terrified look. "I'm so sorry, but Snape took it from me and didn't give it back," he said, letting out a deep sigh.

"Oh no," Minerva blurted out, looking at Poppy and Rolanda, apparently shocked. "What are we going to do now?"

"Well, I definitely don't want to miss it," Rolanda said, smirking. "Minnie, can you try to cast a notice-me-not charm on me?"

"Oh no, Rolanda stop it," Poppy threw in, frowning. "Harry and Hermione can tell us about it later on." Seeing that Harry was staring at them in confusion, she added, "Don't worry, Harry. Just eat your dinner and watch the head table. I hope it'll be fun."

"Okay," Harry agreed, grinning in expectation. _'Who'd have thought that they were so awesome pranksters?_' he mused as he returned to the common room to join Hermione and Ron for dinner.

While they made their way to the Great Hall in their dog forms, Harry informed his friends about his unfortunate trip to Hogsmeade.

"Detention with Snape on Sunday?" Ron asked, horrified. "Thank Merlin it's not me."

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Harry took a seat at the Gryffindor table and unobtrusively let his eyes wander to the Head table, wondering what kind of prank the trio had planned. _'They're really strange if they going to prank their older selves_,' he mused, looking at his Head of House with a combination of foreboding and expectance, when she came to the House table and addressed him.

"Mr. Potter," the Deputy Headmistress said crisply, "Professor Dumbledore wants to speak with you tomorrow evening right after dinner."

"Yes Professor," Harry replied in a barely audible voice, suddenly having no appetite anymore. He pondered if he should just return to the common room and was just about to stand up and leave the Great Hall, when a collective gasp turned his attention back to the Head table.

All teachers were spiking bright, sparkling hair in various colours. Moreover, every word that a person said became written into the air in the same colour as the hair of that person. Apparently, the teachers were oblivious to the fact that the students could follow their whole conversation and animatedly talked about the Hogsmeade visit from the teachers' point of view.

"You were together with a girl?" Ron blurted out, glaring at Harry in disbelief.

Harry let out a groan. "Snape must have been delirious. No girl would go to Hogsmeade with me, especially if we had to remain invisible the whole time." _'Maybe Ginny would go with me. She isn't allowed to go yet either_,' he mused, glancing over to the red haired girl, who was almost sitting opposite himself.

He was brought back to reality, when Ron suddenly said aloud, "I knew that Snape is a vampire."

"Ronald!" Hermione immediately scolded her friend.

"What?" Ron asked, impatiently. "Didn't you read that he said he spent some time in a vampire shop?"

"Yes yes," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes in annoyance, "but he also said that he was searching for a special book about potions involving vampire blood."

_'Vampire blood_,' Harry thought, shuddering. Suddenly, he felt cold at the mere thought of his detention with the Potions Master and began to shiver in spite of the fact that the Great Hall was one of the warmest places in the castle. _'Maybe I have a fever_,' he thought. _'I really don't feel well tonight_.' "Mione, I'm going to bed early today. I don't feel so well," he whispered, knowing that the explanation was needed, because otherwise his best friend would not let him go without eating dinner. He slowly made his way back to Gryffindor, faintly noticing that he felt slightly better in his dog form. _'I promised the girls to tell them how their prank worked_,' he remembered when he reached the portrait hole and, as appealing a nap either in front of the fireplace or in his bed was, he decided to pay the time travellers a visit.

When he hesitantly knocked at the door, Minerva opened him and ushered him in, where Poppy and Rolanda were having an animated discussion about a parchment that was lying on the table in front of them.

"I'm sorry; am I disturbing you?" Harry asked quietly, causing the girls to shake their heads.

"No, we're just discussing more pranks," Rolanda informed him, smiling. "Tell us, how was dinner?"

"Harry, sit here and let me take a look at you," Poppy interrupted him sternly, taking in his flushed cheeks and the dark rings under his eyes, as he began to explain. "You look worse for the wear."

"It's all right," Harry said barely audibly, as a violent shiver shook his body. Suddenly, he had the impression as if his ears were strangely filled with cotton wool, and he felt a bit dizzy.

Poppy knelt down in front of him, placing a cold hand on his forehead. "No, you are not all right," she said firmly, muttering to herself as she pointed her wand at Harry's head a few times.

Just when Harry wondered when she would be done, Minerva spoke up in a soft voice. "Poppy, leave it. Take his temperature with a Muggle thermometer if you must, but you can't practise on Harry if he obviously feels miserable."

"I'm fine," Harry protested weakly, shutting up when he felt something ice-cold being stuck into his mouth. _'So cold_,' he thought, casting Minerva an uncomfortable look that intensified, when Poppy waved his wand over him several times, clucking in disapproval.

"Harry, I think you caught some virus infection, probably a light lung infection," she said finally. "Do you want me to brew a potion for you, or would you prefer to visit my older self, which I'd in fact prefer."

Harry shook his head, sighing in relief, when Poppy finally plucked the annoying, cold stick from his lips. Somehow automatically, he followed Poppy's instruction to lie down on the sofa, drifting off into an exhausted sleep within seconds. _'Feels good_,' he thought, unaware of the fact that Minerva was bathing his flushed face with a cold towel. When his mind drifted back to awareness, Poppy handed him a phial.

"Take this now and go straight to bed. I want to see you again in the morning," she said sternly. "If I can't see even a slight improvement, you are going to go to the hospital wing."

"Thank you so much," Harry said gratefully, "however, I have detention with Snape tomorrow, and I must attend that no matter what."

"We'll see," Poppy said in a strict voice that reminded him very much of her older self.

"Take care and see that you're better in the morning," Rolanda threw in, grinning. "We all want you to attend your detention, because we have a few nice ideas how to prank your professor in the meantime."

"Okay," Harry promised and returned to his dormitory, wondering what the trio had planned and what Snape would do if he was stuck in the hospital wing. _'No, I have to attend that detention in any case_,' he decided, right before he drifted off to sleep that was disturbed by strange, fevered dreams about Snape, who was hiding under his invisibility cloak together with a group of vampires going to hunt students.

_tbc..._

_I am so sorry for the delay, and I hope this extra long chapter will make up for it._


	10. 10 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>10 December<strong>

Harry woke up to a cool hand on his shoulder. He blinked, immediately noticing that he felt worse than the evening before.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione's voice penetrated his ears like from far away.

"Yes, have to attend detention," Harry mumbled, as he slowly sat up, slapping Hermione's hand away, when she tried to feel his forehead.

"Harry, you look outright ill," Hermione said, worriedly. "You're in no condition to spend the whole day in the Potions classroom. Come with me and let the younger Poppy check on you."

"No," Harry replied, trying to look much healthier than he actually felt. "It's all right, Mione. Go ahead and attend breakfast. I'll go straight to the Potions classroom." Seeing that the girl eyed him in obvious concern, he added, "If it's not better tonight, I will."

Shaking her head in exasperation, Hermione gave up and left the room. In the doorframe, she turned around and said sternly, "Harry, I expect you to join us for lunch, and if you're not back by dinnertime, I'll ask McGonagall to go and get you out of your detention."

Placing a weak smile on his face, which did not reach his eyes, Harry said reassuringly, "Don't worry, Mione. He won't starve or otherwise harm me. It's just a detention."

Harry proceeded to take a long shower, hoping to feel a bit better by the warmth or at least warm up a little, before he pulled one of the warm Weasley sweaters under his school robes and with a last longing glance at his invitingly looking bed left the dormitory. Twenty minutes later, he hesitantly knocked at the door to the Potions Master's office.

A mere instant later, the Slytherin Head opened the door. "Mr. Potter," the professor acknowledged his presence, more than he greeted him, only to ask, "Where have you been during breakfast?"

"I just only got up," Harry replied, casting the older wizard a surprised look. _'Now is he watching my every move?_' he thought in annoyance.

"Mr. Potter, you are not supposed to miss meals," Snape said in a voice that was strangely void of malice, before he motioned Harry to follow him into the classroom. Pointing to the huge shelf on one side of the room, he said, "These phials need to be checked for their expiry date. Everything that is outdated has to be taken out and replaced. Put the phials that have to be replaced here on the table, each together with a new phial, which you have properly labelled according to the old phial."

"All right, sir," Harry replied, thinking, _'That could have been much worse_.' Noticing gratefully that the professor placed a quill next to the box with empty phials, because he had not brought his bag with him for the detention, Harry set to work immediately.

To his relief, the professor did not stand behind him to breathe into his neck and closely observe his doing but chose to take a seat at the teacher's table and do some grading work. _'Thank Merlin_,' Harry thought.

During the following two hours, Harry and the professor both worked diligently, and no sound could be heard apart from the Potions Master's quill moving over a parchment, the occasional sound of two glasses clinking against each other or Harry's frequent coughing.

Unbeknownst to Harry, the teacher frowned upon listening to the boy's coughs but refrained from commenting.

However, all of a sudden, a huge noise like from an explosion could be heard from inside the ingredients cupboard, causing Harry and the professor to stare at the origin of the noise in surprise.

"What the..." Snape mumbled, more to himself than to Harry and in a few large steps crossed the room, snapping open the door of the cupboard.

From his position at the other side of the classroom, Harry could realise that the ingredients cupboard was turned into a complete mess. _'Thank Merlin I've been here the whole time, far away from the cupboard. I just hope Snape won't think that I have anything to do with it_,' he mused, quietly observing how the professor cleaned up some of the mess with a few waves of his wand.

Suddenly, Snape turned around and hissed, "What are you watching, Potter? Get on with your work. When you're done, you can continue here. I don't know what the dunderheads have done to cause this, but you'll be busy for the rest of the day."

"Yes sir," Harry said quietly and immediately resumed his work. _'I just hope it won't take all day_,' he thought, noticing that he felt worse by the hour. From the corners of his eyes, he observed how the professor magically cleaned up the ingredients cupboard. _'Thank Merlin_,' he thought and concentrated on his own task.

He was completely engrossed in his work, when Snape spoke up again. "Mr. Potter, it's lunch time, and we must make an appearance in the Great Hall. I expect you back here immediately afterwards."

Harry let out a long sigh. "Professor, I'm not hungry. May I please continue here?" he asked, hesitantly, already preparing himself for a sharp reply.

However, Snape merely quirked an eyebrow and said in a relatively normal voice, "No, Mr. Potter. You already missed breakfast and need to eat something. I also suggest that you go by the hospital wing on the way back and ask Madam Pomfrey for a remedy for your cough."

"Yes sir," Harry mumbled, without any intention to follow that advice, and left the classroom after the professor. _'He is behaving fairly civilly today_,' he thought as he quietly walked through the dungeon corridor behind the teacher, not caring that the distance between them steadily grew larger. _' I'll just eat a little and then return to the dungeons early enough to be there before Snape_. _I'm just glad that we don't have to transform into animals today,_' he thought, gratefully. '_I wonder if Rolanda and the others have set up a new prank.'_

When he entered the Great Hall, he noticed that a huge Christmas tree had been set up right next to the Head table and that all the tables were empty, because everyone was gathered in a large circle around the tree in a huge commotion. In front of the group, Dumbledore and McGonagall were standing, casting spell after spell at the Christmas tree. _'What are they doing?_' he mused, before his eyes widened as he took a closer look at the tree.

_tbc..._

_So sorry for the delay! Thank you very much for your kind comments!_


	11. 11 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>11 December<strong>

Harry could not believe his eyes. Instead of colourful Christmas ornaments, the tree was decorated with small, black figures, which looked like little devils that were dancing on the branches. One devil was a bit larger and was sitting on the tip of the tree, spitting tiny, black objects on the Headmaster and his Deputy, who seemed unable to stop the figure from doing so.

_'Whatever is wrong with the tree, I need to sit down for a while_,' Harry thought and slowly made his way to the Gryffindor table, sighing in relief, when Dumbledore returned to the Head table and ordered everyone to take their seats.

When all students were sitting at their House tables waiting for lunch to pop up on the tables, the Headmaster rose from his chair and addressed them. "Whoever played this prank on the Christmas tree, I'd like the person to reverse it. It is well done, especially as no normal magic works on these figures, however, I prefer our Christmas tree with colourful baubles or sweets. I believe that the whole school would appreciate it if you exchanged these little devils with candycanes."

_'And lemon drops_,' Harry added for himself, smirking as an image of the old wizard coming into the Great Hall in the middle of the night, wearing his night robes, in order to grab some lemon drops from the Christmas tree crossed his mind.

He was brought back to reality, when Hermione laid a cold hand on his arm and began to interrogate him about his detention.

"It was all right so far," Harry replied, telling her about his task of checking the phials.

"Oh that's good," Hermione said, letting out a relieved sigh. "I thought you'd have to clean cauldrons the whole day."

Trying to hide a cough behind a chuckle, Harry told his friends about the explosion in the ingredients cupboard, causing Hermione to cast him a terrified look.

"That's not funny but very dangerous," she chided Ron, who was laughing aloud.

However, when Harry explained the little details, which he had been able to see from his position, she frowned. "I wonder who can have played such a prank," she wondered. "Was anyone else in the classroom apart from you and Snape?"

Harry slightly shook his head. "No."

"Then whoever it was must have used a time-turner," Hermione said, thoughtfully, adding, "or a house-elf."

"Well, we'll see. I'll ask them tonight," Harry replied, completely unaware of what he had just admitted to his friends, and excused himself. "Need to be back in the classroom before Snape," he mumbled and hurriedly left the Great Hall.

Snape caught up with him in the dungeons corridor, and together they walked quietly until the spot, where the classroom door was supposed to be. However, the door had completely vanished in the meantime. The professor closely examined the stone wall, before he turned on his heels and towered over Harry. "Potter! What have you done now, you dunderhead?"

"Nothing," Harry stammered in confusion. "I just came back from the Great Hall, sir."

The professor let out a small growl, which intensified upon noticing that his office door was gone as well. "I suppose someone cast the Fidelius Charm at my classroom door and office," he said grimly. Mr. Potter, who knows about your detention?"

Harry looked at the professor in shock, unwilling to give out the time travellers. "The whole Gryffindor tower I suppose," he replied, his voice laced with uncertainty.

"Follow me," the Slytherin Head demanded and led Harry along the corridor and around a corner, where he stopped in front of a portrait, of which Harry guessed that it was Salazar Slytherin. "Lily," Snape whispered, causing Harry to wonder if his ears had just betrayed him. _'Lily?_' he thought, incredulously. _'That was the name of my mom. Why would Snape use that as password to wherever he is leading me?_'

An instant later, he realised that the professor was guiding him through his private quarters. However, before he had a chance to take a glance at the unexpectedly bright living room that was surrounded by huge bookshelves, Snape ushered him through a connecting door into his office and further into the classroom.

Inwardly groaning, Harry went back to work, noticing in surprise that he had already finished about eighty percent of the ingredient glasses. _'I thought I'd just about finished half of it,' he mused. 'I wished it was already over though. I can't wait to go back to bed and sleep for a while._'

Barely acknowledging that the professor abandoned his grading work and proceeded to examine the ingredients that Harry had placed on the table, he quickly labelled the last few empty glasses, which he had apparently forgotten to finish before lunch.

All of a sudden, the Potions Master let out a small gasp, and Harry looked up, startled. The professor was just trying to take the expired frog liver out of a glass, when all the pieces in the glass in front of their eyes transformed into chocolate frogs that jumped out of the glass and quickly made their way through the classroom.

_'Oh no_,' Harry thought, horrified. _'Now Snape is definitely going to assume that it was me who played all the pranks._' He hurriedly turned back to his task, mentally preparing himself for the professor's ire.

_tbc... _

_Thank you for your kind reviews!_


	12. 12 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>12 December<strong>

Severus cast the boy a sharp look. _'How dare he?_' was his first thought. However, taking in the boy's sickly appearance, he realised2ealised2, _'No, he is only a third year, and it's not as if he would excel in Charms or Transfiguration. He can't have played the pranks. However, he surely asked someone to perform the display for him, so that he could have some fun during his detention_.'

"Mr. Potter," he said in a dangerously quiet voice, trying to keep as calm as possible. "Whom did you ask to arrange for all this nonsense?"

"Excuse me, sir?" the boy had the gall to ask, looking at him in confusion. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea who is doing this. I didn't speak with anyone, and I didn't ask for any pranks. I just want to get over with this detention as quickly as possible."

Noticing that the boy's cheeks were feverishly flushed in comparison to his otherwise white face and that his breathing sounded too fast and irregular, Severus decided to leave the matter for the time being, knowing that he couldn't question the child under Veritaserum anyway.

"Very well then, Mr. Potter, finish your work," he said, wondering why he was so relatively friendly to his archenemy's son.

"Yes sir," the boy replied and seemingly diligently returned to his work.

'_Strange_,' Severus thought. _'I'd have thought he'd try to get out of his detention like his father always did, and considering his condition it wouldn't even have been difficult_.' Inwardly sighing, he got rid of the chocolate frogs with a flick of his wand and proceeded with the task at hand.

HP

Harry meticulously continued his work. On the one hand, he wanted nothing more than to go back to his dormitory for a long nap, but on the other hand, he felt very grateful that the professor had assigned him a relatively easy, but still useful job and wanted to do it as perfectly as possible. However, his head and especially his eyes hurt, apart from the pain in his chest, and he noticed that his condition worsened by the hour. By the time he finished the glasses, the professor had already prepared new ones on the table, which Harry had to place back into the shelf, _'after finding out what goes where_,' Harry thought, inwardly groaning in annoyance as realisation set in. It was almost dinner time when the professor finally let him go.

"Mr. Potter, you will attend dinner and right afterwards accompany me to the Headmaster," Snape said as he released him.

"Yes sir," Harry replied in a barely audible voice, thinking, _'So much about a short nap during dinner_.'

He grudgingly followed the professor to the Great Hall, wondering if the Christmas tree would be back to its usual decoration. When he entered the Great Hall, the situation was similar to what it had been earlier; however, this time, the entire school stood around the tree that was decorated with beautiful Christmas ornaments.

"Harry!" Hermione immediately cornered him and pulled him to the Gryffindor table. "I spent the whole afternoon brewing potions together with Poppy. It was so much fun. Poppy was very upset though. She told me she had instructed you to come to her for a check-up this morning, which you didn't." Glaring at her friend, she continued, "So I had to promise her to drag you there right after dinner."

Harry let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry, Mione, but after dinner I have an appointment with Professors Snape and Dumbledore. I'll join you when I'm back."

However, when Harry returned to the Gryffindor tower from a heated discussion with the Headmaster, his Head of House and the Potions Master, he was much too upset to speak with anyone and went straight to bed, the old wizard's words still clear in his mind. "Since you seem to be too irresponsible to take care of yourself and refrain from forbidden visits to Hogsmeade, whilst Mr. Black is on the loose, my colleagues won't be able to keep you safe during the winter holidays. Therefore, you must return to the Dursleys over Christmas."

_tbc..._

_Sorry for the shortness... thanks to the few kind readers for their feedback..._


	13. 13 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>13 December<strong>

During the night, Harry woke up to nightmares about his uncle shouting at him that he was an ungrateful freak, who could not even leave his relatives in peace over Christmas.

_'I won't go back to the Dursleys_,' he resolved when he tried in vain to get some more sleep. _'I'll just hide at the station in Hogsmeade, or if that isn't possible, I'll hide in the toilets of the Hogwarts Express, when it reaches King's Cross. I hope it's going to travel back soon afterwards_.'

In the morning, he heard his roommates get up and get ready for the day; however, he felt too bad to drag himself out of bed, and when Ron glanced behind his curtains to wake him up, Harry told him he was going to sleep though breakfast.

He was not surprised, even if slightly annoyed, when Hermione came to check on him upon hearing what Ron told her. She sat on the edge of his bed and carefully touched his hand with her own cold fingers, frowning at the heat he radiated.

"Harry, you're really ill," she said, horrified. "You're burning up."

Harry merely let out a small sigh, feeling too miserable to care what was happening. He turned towards the wall, trying to find a cool spot on the pillow.

"Harry, I'm going to call Poppy," Hermione decided, standing up in determination. "Since everyone has already left for breakfast, it'll be safe for her to come here."

_'Going to the hospital wing can't be worse than having to return to the Durselys_,' Harry thought as he drifted off to more fevered nightmares.

HP

Hermione hurried through the empty common room and the portrait hole, barely noticing that her housemates, who had left just before her, transformed into various animals as they passed in front of the painting near the common room.

It took a while, before Rolanda finally opened the door to the trio's rooms, looking very sleepy.

"What do you think what time it is?" she groaned. "If we spend half the night to entertain the whole school with pranks, we need to sleep while everyone is in class."

"I'm so sorry, Rolanda," Hermione apologized. "Do you think Poppy could quickly check on Harry? He seems very ill to me."

"Oh no, of course, sorry, Mione," Rolanda replied. Now apparently fully awake, she dashed away and hammered at Poppy's door.

A minute later, Poppy followed Hermione into Harry's dormitory. Hermione noticed in concern that Harry barely acknowledged their presence. She quietly observed how Poppy pointed her wand at Harry's head multiple times, making numbers emerge from the tip of her wand.

_'If that's his temperature, it's extremely high_,' Hermione thought, worriedly, _'even if the numbers are different each time_.'

Finally, Poppy proceeded to wave her wand over Harry, muttering to herself, while her expression became sterner with each spell she cast.

When the fifth year finally let her wand sink, Hemrione couldn't wait anymore and whispered, "Is he all right?"

"No," Poppy replied, seemingly deep in thoughts. "He caught pneumonia. I must take him to my older self. This is too serious to experiment." With a flick of her wand, she configured a stretcher, which she moved right next to Harry's bed.

_'She is amazing_,' Hermione thought in admiration, _'although she's only two years older than me_.'

"Harry!" Poppy tried to catch the boy's attention, who seemed to be half asleep. Receiving no reaction from her patient, she carefully touched his shoulder in order to make him turn around.

However, at her gentle touch, Harry opened his eyes just a little bit and suddenly began to speak. "No Uncle, please don't hurt me. I promise I'll be good. Please let me go back to my cupboard. I won't disturb you over Christmas."

"It's all right, sweetie," Poppy said in a soft voice. "Your uncle is not here. It's only Poppy. And Hermione is with me." She continued to quietly talk to the boy, motioning him to lie down on the stretcher, before she turned to Hermione. "Hermione, please run to our rooms and fetch Minnie or Rola. One of them has to urgently cancel the charm, which is placed on the portaits."

In spite of having no idea what Poppy was talking about, Hermione hurried away. When she returned with Rolanda in tow, Poppy was already waiting in front of the portrait hole, quietly listening to Harry's feverish talking about his relatives.

While Rolanda waved her wand at the nearest painting, Poppy demanded, "Tell me what you know about Harry's home life."

HP

Harry tried to shake off the memories of his uncle, but it was impossible. Like from far away, he heard Poppy's and Hermione's voices and instinctively knew that everything was all right if those two were with him. He felt himself being lowered into a soft bed, once again sensed Poppy's magic run up and down his body and finally drifted off into a deep, potions induced sleep.

When his mind turned back to awareness, and he hesitantly opened his eyes, hoping that his surroundings would have stopped doing flipflops, he saw the younger Poppy and Minerva sitting next to his bed, deeply engrossed in a conversation.

"Poppy, Harry is awake," Poppy immediately called her older self, who quickly approached Harry's bed.

Only when she stood next to him, Harry could see that her mouth and nose were transformed into those of a pig, and she grunted something that he did not understand until he noticed that all of her words appeared in speech bubbles above her head.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews!_


	14. 14 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>14 December<strong>

_'Even now that their older selves have found out of them, they're still pranking everyone_,' Harry thought in surprise, wondering how the adults had reacted to the news about the presence of their younger selves.

Hearing that Poppy was grunting again, Harry tried to focus on the speech bubble above her head; however, he felt too dizzy to clearly distinguish the letters.

"Sorry, I can't understand," he mumbled, closing his eyes in exhaustion.

"Harry, my older self just explained that you caught pneumonia and will have to stay here in the hospital wing over the holidays," the younger Poppy informed him, causing a small smile to play on the boy's lips.

"So much better to stay here than with my relatives," he mumbled, feeling extremely relieved at the news.

A few minutes later, he began to feel slightly better, realising in relief that the Mediwitch had just spelled a bunch of healing potions into his system.

HP

Seeing that Harry drifted back to a much needed healing sleep, Minerva and Poppy resumed their earlier conversation.

"You know, Poppy, I feel horrible," Minerva admitted, pensively. "How could my older self not know about Harry's home life? How could she ignore all the signs of him being abused?"

Poppy let out a long sigh. "Oh Minnie, you're probably very busy looking after the whole Gryffindor House. But what about MY older self? As the Mediwitch, I should have noticed that his fragile health condition is a result of neglect and abuse. But I can't imagine that I'd just ignore it if I got to know about it. Minnie, let's cancel the charm, at least for my older self. I really want to talk to her and question her about the matter."

_'I can't believe that I can be so indifferent that I won't notice such a problem_,' she thought. _'Something must be terribly wrong here. If not, I ought to consider becoming a Mediwitch at all._'

Minerva nodded, and in order to not disturb Harry's sleep, they entered the Mediwitch's office, where the future Gryffindor Head unobtrusively waved her wand at her friend's older self.

"So it was you, who played all these pranks during the last two weeks?" older Poppy queried, glaring at the two younger witches, but unable to completely wipe a grin from her face.

"Please don't tell anyone," younger Poppy pleaded, giving her older self a mischievous look. "I think Minnie and Rola have still planned some pranks."

"Well, as long as they don't harm anyone, I don't mind," Poppy replied, smiling. Listening to the younger witches' question about Harry Potter's home life, her features straightened. "Minerva, Poppy, I'm sorry, but I have no idea why none of us noticed anything." She remained thoughtful for a moment, before she added, "Let me call Professor Snape and ask him about the matter. Usually, he notices within the first week of school if a child is abused."

"Snape?" younger Poppy blurted out, horrified. "But he absolutely detests Harry from all I heard from Hermione and him. He even made him serve detention the whole day yesterday, although Harry was clearly ill."

"He would still help the child if he knew that he was abused," her older self contradicted firmly, heading to the fireplace.

With mixed feelings, the two younger witches observed how the tall Potions Master stepped out of the fireplace, thanking the Mediwitch by inclining his head when she took the pig nose charm off him and explained about the time travellers and their question concerning the abuse of one Harry Potter by his supposed to be caring relatives.

Quirking an eyebrow at the two young witches, Snape spoke up, pensivly. "Poppy, something is not as it should be. I am not sure, but I can imagine that Albus placed some kind of charm on all of us. For some reason, he absolutely wants the boy to remain with his relatives. I have always wondered why he insists leaving him with Petunia, who already hated the magical world, when she was a child. However, seeing that Potter behaves like his father..."

"No," the Mediwitch interrupted his tirade. "Severus, that is not true. Harry is very much different from James. He much more resembles Lily."

'_Wow_,' Poppy thought, _'my future self is not that bad if she dares contradict the scary Potions professor_.'

Snape cast the two time travellers a challenging look. "Maybe you can think about how to prevent the Headmaster from interfering in the future, when you travel back to the past."

_tbc..._

_Again.. sorry for the delay... will try to eventually catch up with the missing three days.. please review to help my muse..._


	15. 15 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>15 December<strong>

Younger Minerva and Poppy exchanged a confused look. Finally, Poppy turned her eyes to her older self, who was smiling at her encouragingly. "If we can find out what we have to do differently," she said, thoughtfully.

"I know what we're going to do, Poppy," Minerva spoke up. "We're going to buy the newest, not self-updating copy of Hogwarts: A History. If we carefully study that, we'll hopefully be able to find out what to do this time around."

"That sounds like a good plan," Snape said, nodding his agreement. "If you excuse my curiosity, how did you manage to come to the future, and by which means do you intend to travel back to the past?"

While Minerva hesitantly explained about their potions accident, Poppy searched her robe pocket for a small parchment. "Here," she said, handing it to the Potions Master, just when he opened his mouth to comment on their accident.

"This looks similar to the normal, even if rarely used, apparition potion," Snape said after studying her parchment, "apart from the goblin piss. May I ask how you managed to gather this ingredient?"

Poppy and Minerva couldn't help laughing, especially as Poppy's older self stepped behind the Potions Master to get a glimpse at the parchment to confirm that she had heard correctly.

"We sent a house-elf to Gringotts," Minerva admitted quietly, causing the adults to nod in understanding.

HP

During the following twenty-four hours, the three time travellers conducted many conversations with their older selves, Severus Snape, Hermione, Hagrid and Dobby in order to do a systematic research about the years between their own time and their current presence in the future. Since Harry was mostly asleep and not feeling well enough for such kind of conversation, they left him in peace and merely quietly informed him about the new pranks, which Rolanda had played on the whole school.

"Oh, that must have been funny, and I missed everything," Harry said, regrettably, when Minerva told him how the baubles on the Christmas tree next to the Head table had multiplied and flooded the whole Great Hall and corridors, so that everyone had to flee from the baubles, or how the star at the tip of the tree had become larger until it broke through the charmed ceiling causing shooting stars to come down all over Hogwarts.

When Harry woke up the next time, his chest still hurt, and he felt not only hot and cold at the same time, but also somehow nauseous. _'My potions must have worn off_,' he thought and hesitantly opened his eyes to see if anyone was nearby, smiling as he saw Rolanda and Poppy sitting on the edge of his bed.

However, suddenly, his attention was drawn to a small movement next to his bed, causing him to blink in disbelief. Several dozen candy canes were floating through the hospital wing, always in pairs. Some of them were just floating around the beds, others were doing flip flops or other kinds of sports. In spite of still feeling miserable, he just had to chuckle at the sight.

However, he stopped soon laughing, when all of a sudden, the Headmaster's voice penetrated his ears.

"Poppy, Severus, it is important that the boy returns to his relatives. I'm sure that his aunt, who raised him, will be well able to nurse him back to health." With that Dumbledore crossed the hospital wing in fast steps and left.

"Dumbledore has changed a lot," Minerva said, seemingly deep in thoughts. "He was much nicer at our time.

"Don't worry, Minnie, we're going to change that," Poppy said, smiling, before she rose from the edge of Harry's bed, pulling her friend with her, when her older self approached to check on Harry.

"Do you really think it's wise to leave tonight without telling Harry anything?" Harry heard Minerva whisper, while the Mediwitch waved her wand over him.

However, before he was able to show as much as the slightest reaction, he succumbed to the potions, which had just been spelled into his stomach.

_tbc..._

_Thanks to the kind readers who left an encouraging comment for my muse!_


	16. 16 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>16 December<strong>

After a last glance at Harry's sleeping form, Minerva and Poppy said good-bye to Poppy's older self and once again visited Hagrid's hut, where Rolanda was waiting for them.

"Are you ready to leave, Rola?" Poppy queried, looking from her friend to the half-giant.

"Yes," Rolanda confirmed, showing her friends a small pile of parchments. "Hagrid gave me a letter for his younger self, where he explained everything in detail, which we discussed with him and Professor Snape last night."

_'A letter consisting of about ten parchments_,' Poppy thought, inwardly rolling her eyes in annoyance as she eyed the pile in Rolanda's hand. "Well, that's great, Hagrid. Thank you very much," she said kindly. "Then we won't have problems to convince him to believe us and help us."

"You won' have problems," Hagrid confirmed, patting Poppy's shoulder, before he handed her a small, wooden box. "There're a few memories to show 'em. These will convince 'em."

"Thank you so much, Hagrid," Minerva threw in. "We'll see you in the past."

With that, the three friends left Hagrid's hut and transformed into their Animagus forms in order to return to their own rooms in Gryffindor without being seen by anyone.

"Cool that we managed to remain incognito all these weeks with only Poppy's older self and Professor Snape knowing, apart from Harry and Hermione of course. Somehow, it would be great if we could just stay here," Rolanda said, smirking. "Harry is so cute. I wonder if my older self thinks the same way."

"Rolanda!" Minerva and Poppy said simultaneously, groaning. "Your older self is about fifty years older than him. All students are probably cute in our older selves' eyes."

"One more thing is that I've got used to the Christmas tree and all the decorations in the Great Hall. When we left it was only September, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was the twenty-fifth of September, and we're going back to exactly the same date, provided that Poppy calculated correctly," Minerva replied, shaking her head in annoyance. "Sure Christmas will be soon enough."

Ignoring Rolanda's outbreak, Poppy walked into the lab, letting her eyes wander around her small place. _'I'm going to miss this rooms and my own lab_,' she mused. _'On the other hand, I'm going to be the Mediwitch, so it's worth returning to my own time now. Apart from that we need to help Harry, and I hope we'll succeed._' Deep in thoughts, she picked up the three small goblets that were waiting on the table, containing a light orange liquid.

"Are you ready?" she asked, handing a small goblet to each Minerva and Rolanda, finally taking one in her own hands. The goblets in their left hands, they stepped out into the deserted corridor, knowing that their guest quarters had not existed in the past. "On three then," Poppy decided and slowly counted to three.

The friends extended their right hands to each other in a faint attempt to not become separated whatever was going to happen, before they simultaneously gulped down the potion. A mere instant later, the world around them turned black.

_tbc..._

_Thank you for the few but valuable, kind reviews! Sorry for the shortness..._


	17. 17 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>17 December<strong>

When Harry woke up, he somehow felt totally confused. _'That were strange dreams_,' he thought, unconsciously rubbing his forehead in a faint attempt to get rid of the terrible headache, which was suddenly bothering him. _'Who were the children in the last dream?_' he wondered.

"Good morning, Harry." The Mediwitch's voice suddenly brought him back to reality. "Can you open your eyes for me?"

Harry blinked. "Good morning, Madam Pomfrey," Harry said, taking in his surroundings in confusion. "Excuse me," he asked, hesitantly, "where am I, and how long did I sleep?" _'My chest doesn't hurt anymore,_' he realised, sighing in relief upon noticing that his headache seemed to be his only problem.

"Are you confused, sweetie?" Pomfrey asked gently. "Don't worry, Harry, I'm in the same position as well as Ms. Granger, Hagrid and Professor Snape. Everything changed so suddenly, but we'll have to get used to it."

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, having absolutely no idea what the Mediwitch was talking about.

Seeing his clueless look, Pomfrey let out a small sigh and took a seat on the edge of his bed. "Harry," she slowly began to speak, "do you remember my younger self, who came here from the past together with her best friends, Minerva and Rolanda?"

"Of course," Harry replied, excitedly. "Are they really already gone? Without saying good-bye to me?"

"Yes sweetie, I'm sorry. Getting to know about you and the problems you were having with your relatives, they realised that they had to go back to their own time and change the future. The instant they returned to the past yesterday, many things changed, which is why you're feeling so confused. Your memories of the old time line and those of the new time line exist in your head next to each other, and every time you sleep, you will become aware of more memories, which you don't know at the moment. As I said, it is the same for the others of us, who knew about my younger self's time travel, so you're not alone, even if you, Professor Snape and Hagrid are more effected by the changes than Hermione, Hagrid or myself."

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked softly. "May I speak with her, please?"

Pomfrey smiled at the boy. "She is in class at the moment. I suggest that you sleep for a few more hours, and after the last afternoon class, Hermione may join you for a while."

_'I'd prefer to hear more about this new time line_,' Harry thought but knew better than to contradict the strict Mediwitch. "All right," he grudgingly agreed.

Pomfrey pulled her wand out of her robe pocket and began to wave it over Harry. "Very well," she said finally. "From the notes in my office, I know that your condition in this new time line is much better than it was before. Nevertheless, it is a mixture from both time lines, thus the pneumonia is not completely gone yet; however, another day of sleep will do the trick."

HP

By the time when Harry woke up from another potions induced sleep, Hermione was sitting on the edge of his bed. He hurriedly brought himself into a sitting position, uttering a sleepy "Mione."

"Hi Harry, how are you?" Hermione asked, giving him a sharp look.

"I'm fine," Harry replied, really feeling better than he could remember having felt ever before. "Tell me, is everything very different from before?"

Hermione let out a long sigh. "For me, things are not so different, apart from the fact that we're in different Houses and don't have classes together now."

Harry looked at her in shock. "We what? Let me guess... Did the Hat put me into Slytherin this time?" _'But then we'd still have classes together_,' he mused.

"Yes, you're in Slytherin, Ron is in Hufflepuff, and I'm in Ravenclaw," Hermione replied, smiling. "Ron seems not to be friends with us in this time. Apparently, he doesn't know anything about the old time line." She let her hand run through her bushy hair, sighing. "I can imagine that everything must be a complete shock for you. I'm very happy for you though."

_'Happy?_' Harry wondered. _'Why would I be happy?_' To Hermione he said, "I don't know. I'm seeing dreams, but they don't really make sense."

Before Hermione could ask about his dreams, the door opened, and a tall figure entered the room.

"Professor Snape," Harry blurted out, feeling utmost bewildered at the sight. _'I thought this was my own room. What is he doing here?_'

"Good evening, Professor," Hermione echoed, smiling at the wizard.

"Harry, Ms. Granger," the professor spoke up in a voice that held no malice. "We need some volunteers to help decorating the Christmas tree in the Great Hall. Are the two of you feeling up to assist?" he queried, quirking an eyebrow at the students, causing Harry to stare at the professor in disbelief.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your feedback!_


	18. 18 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>18 December<strong>

"I'd love to decorate the tree, although I have no idea how to do that," Harry replied quietly, looking at Hermione.

"Yes sir, I'd love to assist," Hermione said eagerly. "Thank you so much for inviting us."

Harry could not take his eyes off the professor. _'Something is different around him_,' he mused, before he realised what it was. _'He is wearing dark blue robes instead of his usual black attire_.'

"I'll wait outside," Hermione announced and headed for the door.

"We shall meet in the Great Hall. My wife and Professor McGonagall will already be there," Snape informed her, before he turned his eyes back to Harry.

_'He has a wife?_' Harry thought, completely shocked, _'Oh well, that explains why he doesn't wear black anymore. She might have talked him out of it. But why is he here in my room? And why do I have my own room in the first place? Do the Slytherins have their own rooms instead of dormitories?_'

Finally realising that the professor looked at him in obvious expectance, Harry slowly climbed out of his bed, staring at the older wizard in confusion, when Snape waved his wand over him, exchanging his pyjamas with dark blue trousers, a matching turtle-neck shirt and green robes.

_'Wow, I really like this outfit_,' Harry thought and said in a soft voice, "Thank you, Professor."

Snape let out a long sigh. "Harry," he finally spoke up. "How much do you already know about this new time line? What kind of memories did you get so far?"

_'Oh right, Pomfrey said for him had changed a lot as well_,' Harry remembered and said thoughtfully, "Not really much. I saw some memories, of which I have no idea what they are. Some of them were about two children, whom I don't know at all."

Snape frowned. "You don't have any memories yet about your family?" he queried, giving Harry a sharp look. Seeing Harry shake his head in confusion, he motioned for him to sit down on the edge of his bed, before he pulled himself the chair from the desk over and took a seat. "Since I knew about the time travellers, I have the knowledge of both time lines as well. However, as a mind master, I'm able to control which memories I wish to see first, so that I already have a rough outline of the most important changes." Seeing that Harry was listening with interest, he continued, "Madam Pomfrey has advised us to not tell you too much, because you need to retrieve your own memories when you're asleep. However, if she deems you well enough tomorrow, I can help you to trigger some memories of the most important changes."

"Thank you, sir. That would be awesome," Harry said gratefully.

Snape slightly inclined his head and stood from his seat. "Now, shall we go the Great Hall? I'm sure they are expecting us."

"Of course, sir," Harry replied and followed the professor out of the room, slightly surprised that the door led to a corridor in the dungeons and not to the Slytherin common room.

"Excuse me, sir," he remembered to ask when they walked up to the entrance hall, "can you just tell me one thing please?" Seeing that Snape looked at him in apparent amusement, he blurted out, "How come that Hermione and I friends even in this time line, although we're in different Houses and don't have even classes together?"

Snape let out a sigh, slowly bringing his hands up to massage his temples as if he was fighting a headache. "I suppose that you must get your memories back over the time. However, as far as I know, Professor McGonagall remembered that you and Ms. Granger had been best friends, when they visited us as students, and she invited you to accompany her mother to the Grangers when Ms. Granger turned 11 in order to inform her about Hogwarts and help her buy her school necessities. You must have been friends from that time onwards."

"Oh, that's great," Harry replied, making a mental note to thank Professor McGonagall profusely.

Looking up in surprise when the Potions Master held the door to the Great Hall open for him, he stepped inside, where Professor McGonagall, one of her colleagues and Hermione were decorating the Christmas tree, disturbed by two children, who were running around the tree. He looked at the scenario with interest that turned into disbelief, when everyone suddenly became aware of his presence and looked at him.

Glancing at the Potions Master in shock, Harry fled out of the Great Hall and ran out onto the grounds, only stopping, when he was half way around the lake, where he let himself sink onto the ground. _'Why did no one tell me?_' he thought, terrified, and began to sob.

_tbc... _

_Thank you so much for your feedback and sorry for the delay (still fighting pneumonia and wasn't able to post last night). Any requests for the last week of this calendar?_


	19. 19 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>19 December<strong>

_'Snape said they weren't allowed to tell me anything_,' a small voice spoke up from the back of his head.

_'Still they should have told me_,' Harry thought, feeling very upset. _'The children were those, who were in my dreams, and the woman, who was decorating the tree together with McGonagall, must be my Mum. She and the children have the same green eyes that I have, and she looked exactly like on the pictures that Hagrid gave me in my old time. But Snape said his wife was in the Great Hall, so is Snape my father?_' he wondered, incredulously. _'That's why he came to fetch me and behaved so civically. But instead of answering my question about Hermione, he should told me about my family. That's much more important_.'

Suddenly, Hermione's voice penetrated his ears. "Harry, what's wrong? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be out here. You just only recovered from pneumonia. You'll only aggravate your condition."

"I'll be fine," Harry replied, stubbornly, slowly turning his eyes to view his best friend.

"Mione, is Snape really my father?"

Hermione reached for Harry's hand and carefully pulled him off the ground, before she gently laid her arm around her shoulders.

"Yes, you're Harry Snape in this timeline. Is it so bad though? You always said you wanted nothing more than a family, and now you have parents and two very cute siblings. You should be very happy now."

"Yes, but they should have told me before instead of just confronting me with the situation," Harry replied in an upset voice, so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not notice the Potions Master stride around the lake with large steps.

"Ms. Granger, thank you, but I'll take over," Snape said in a soft voice, causing Hermione to nod and leave the two Snapes to a much needed conversation.

"I apologize, Harry," Snape said, lightly laying his arms around the boy. "I should have ignored Madam Pomfrey's instructions and told you. I'm sorry, son."

"Yes," Harry merely said in a small voice, unconsciously leaning into his father's embrace. _'Somehow he feels like my father_,' he mused, _'even if I didn't have any memory about it yet_.'

"The Dark Lord does not exist in this time," Snape began to explain. "Soon after the three time travellers returned to the past, Tom Riddle mysteriously vanished from the school."

"How?" Harry queried, surprised.

"Nothing is known officially; however, as far as I know, someone lured him into the forest, where Hagrid's pet, Aragog, fought a duel with him and won," Snape replied, nervously letting his right hand wander through his silky hair. "Anyway, in this time line, your mother decided to marry me, and we have three children. I assume that the two unknown children of your memories are Niamh and Aidan, your small sister and brother."

"Mum is alive, you're my father, and I have a brother and a sister," Harry said quietly, staring at his father in disbelief. "Am I delirious?" He slowly trailed off, trying to remember the dream, where his siblings had fought over the question, whom the presents under the Christmas tree in the Great Hall belonged.

"Harry, if you're not comfortable yet to meet them, you don't have to join them tonight. You can return home, together with me or on your own, just as you wish," the older wizard said gently, waving his wand at Harry's robes to transfigure them into warm winter robes upon noticing that Harry was shivering in the cold December air.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, gratefully, only now realising how cold it was. "No, it's all right. Now that I know about their existence, I want to meet them. I can't wait to speak with my Mum."

'_Mum_,' Harry thought, smiling as he entered the Great Hall the second time within an hour, and took course to the Christmas tree, which Lily was just decorating, when he was stopped by two small children, who clang to his legs, simultaneously shouting, "Harryyy."

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews that motivated my muse to write the next page during a sleepless night. Maybe we can still catch up..?_


	20. 20 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>20 December<strong>

"Hi Niamh, Aidan," Harry greeted the children and slowly freed himself from their grip in order to speak with his mother. "Mum," he said in amazement, smiling as Lily carefully pulled him into a light hug.

"Harry dear, do you remember me?" Lily whispered, giving him a piercing look. "Your father and Aunt Poppy told me everything."

"I'm so happy," Harry whispered back, unobtrusively trying to wipe a tear from his cheek. Somehow his mother's embrace felt fairly usual, just as if she had been cuddling with him many times before.

"Harry, can you make me a bauble pleeeeeease?" Niamh suddenly shouted, sounding very impatient. "I want one with a pink cat like the one Aidan broke last year."

"And I want a green one with a black lynx like daddy," Aidan threw in, impatiently tugging Harry's robes.

"Mum, how did I do that last year?" Harry whispered, causing Lily to pull him even closer and promise, "Don't worry, sweetie, it's easy. Just transfigure a tissue into a bauble and use wish magic to add the pattern. No one showed you how to do it last year either."

Harry inwardly sighed in relief, when Lily picked a tissue from the table and waved her wand at it, speaking the incantation in a clear voice. While he was watching, a scene of himself making colourful baubles for his little siblings popped up in his mind, and he cast his mother a grateful look. During the next two hours, Harry was very busy making ornaments for the tree and entertaining his sister and brother. The more time passed the more comfortable he felt around his family, which on the one hand was very new to him but on the other hand felt extremely familiar.

He also noticed that he felt almost even closer to Hermione than in his old time, and when he quietly discussed the matter with his father on the way back to their quarters in the dungeons, Severus smirked.

"As far as I know from the memories that I watched, you and Ms. Granger spend much time together every weekend assisting me in the Potions lab," he replied, quirking an eyebrow at his oldest son.

_'Wow, sounds interesting_,' Harry thought. _'I'm really happy having such an awesome family_,' he mused as he quietly followed his parents and siblings into the Snape's quarters. When they entered the large living room, which was very bright in spite of being in the dungeons with large, white bookshelves around the room that were only interrupted by huge magical windows, he felt as if he had been in the room before, although he could not remember one specific memory about it.

He helped his mother to get the younger children ready for bed, before he joined his parents in the living room for tea. _'Thank Merlin Mum knows about my problem, so I don't have to keep up appearances_,' he mused, when his mother asked if he had any questions.

"Well, I don't remember much about this new time line yet, which is strange as it is the only time line for most people here, except for my father, Hermione and Madam Pomfrey," he said thoughtfully.

"And Hagrid," his father corrected him lightly.

"Oh right... Well, I'm just wondering how long it's going to take me to catch up with everything. If school begins again after the holidays and I have to return to Slytherin, I can't ask my classmates how to get into the common room or which my dormitory is, can I?"

His father let out a long sigh. "Harry, don't worry about these questions now," he said gently. "As I promised earlier, tomorrow I will help you retrieve the most important memories about our home life. We'll see about everything concerning classes or the school after Christmas."

However, when Harry opened his eyes in the morning, being woken up by an energetic four-year-old, retrieving any memory was about the least thing he wanted.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments!_


	21. 21 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>21 December<strong>

During the night, Harry's dreams had been filled with new memories about his parents and siblings, and when he woke up due to Niamh's happy shouting "Harry!", he had a bad headache.

"Morning lil' one," he mumbled, sleepily, noticing in shock that his throat and chest had become sore as well. _'Oh no_,' he thought, terrified. _'I thought my condition was better in this time._'

"Good morning, Harry," his mother said as she entered the room, lightly scolding her daughter, "Niamh, leave Harry in peace."

"Good morning, Mum," Harry replied, carefully freeing himself from his sister's embrace.

"Harry, would you mind keeping Niamh and Aidan with you today?" Lily asked, hesitantly. "Your father decided to go and teach his classes in spite of Poppy's instructions to stay at home until he has all memories of the new time line."

"Of course, no problem," Harry replied immediately, inwardly groaning at the prospect of entertaining two small children, who could not wait for Christmas.

"Are you feeling all right?" Lily asked, worriedly, taking in Harry's flushed cheeks in concern. Before Harry could even reassure her that he was fine, she placed a cold hand on his forehead.

"Good morning. Is something wrong?" Severus queried as he entered the room.

"Yes. Harry is running a fever," Lily replied, pulling her wand.

"I'll be fine," Harry mumbled. "It's just that I got many memories back last night and have a bit of a headache now."

Lily shook her head, waving her wand over her oldest son. "No Harry, you caught bronchitis, probably because you went out onto the grounds in your light robes last night. Fortunately, it's only a light case, and with a few doses of your father's potion you'll be right as rain." Sliding her wand back into her robe pocket, she gave Severus detailed instructions what potions Harry needed.

Severus nodded his understanding and said, "Very well then, I'll stay home with the children today. We'll also have breakfast here this morning. Please inform the Headmistress at breakfast."

"Of course," Lily replied in a soft voice, before she leaned over Harry and kissed his hot forehead. "Try to rest, sweetie, even if I know it's not easy with Niamh and Aidan around. I'll come back and check on you after the second morning class."

When Severus re-entered the room carrying two phials, she swiftly left the room, as the sounds of a fight between her younger children could be heard.

Seeing that Harry gave him a questioning look, Severus smirked. "Your mother was a Healer at St. Mungo's until Professor McGonagall urged her to come back to Hogwarts."

"Is McGonagall the Headmistress?" Harry threw in, looking at his father in confusion. "Where's Dumbledore?"

"The meddling old coot retired when your mother and I finished Hogwarts," Severus informed him. "Professor McGonagall is now the Headmistress, your mother is the Charms professor and Gryffindor Head, Remus Lupin the Transfiguration teacher, and Frank Longbottom the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Professor Flitwick is teaching History of Magic. Everything else is not different to our old time line."

"Neville's parents are alive and well in this time," Harry said, looking at his father in awe. "What about my former father and godfather?" he then asked, hesitantly.

"They are both Aurors at the Ministry of Magic," Severus replied, wearing an indifferent expression that made Harry refrain from further questions. "Now are you feeling well enough to get up for breakfast? I need to go and see what the little ones are doing, before they manage to kill each other."

"Of course, Dad," Harry replied, chuckling, and slowly followed his father out of the room, only realising in shock what he had instinctively called the Potions Master. _'Well, that was what I said in my memories,' _he thought,_ 'so it should be all right._'

_tbc..._

_Thank you for your kind comments. See you tomorrow..._


	22. 22 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>22 December<strong>

"Harryyyy," Niamh and Aidan shouted simultaneously, seeing Harry and their father appear in the doorframe. They jumped up from the floor puzzle they had been working on and clung to Harry's legs.

"Can we go flying today?" Aidan asked eagerly, casting Harry a puppy-eyed look.

"No, Harry is sick and can't go anywhere," Severus said firmly, motioning the children to follow him into the small kitchen.

During breakfast, Harry unobtrusively observed his siblings. _'They're so cute_,' he mused, while he spooned a small portion of fruit yoghurt into his mouth, _'and they seem to be very happy that I'm here._' In fact, he had viewed similar situations in his memories during the night. Although he used to come home regularly even during the school year, his siblings were always very enthusiastic to have their big brother at home.

HP

After breakfast, Severus instructed Harry to either go back to bed or lie down on the sofa in the living room, which Harry preferred, surprised to see that his father took a seat in an armchair next to him and began to grade parchments.

Seeing that their father was engrossed in his work, Niamh and Aidan both climbed on the sofa and lay down on each side of Harry, where they kept babbling and chuckling for a few minutes, before they drifted off, lulled into sleep by the warmth of Harry's embrace.

"Excuse me, sir," Harry whispered, noticing that the children's breathing evened out, "are they okay here with me? Won't they catch the bronchitis from me?"

Severus cast him an irate look, only now realising what his younger children were doing. "They'll be fine. I gave them a preventive potion, when I fetched yours," he said, calmingly, only to add as an afterthought, "Are you feeling all right, Harry?"

"I'm fine," Harry replied, truthfully. "Sorry for disturbing you, but is it correct that today is the last day of classes before the holidays?"

Severus placed his quill down on the table and let out a long sigh. "Harry, you're not disturbing me. You're my son, just like Niamh and Aidan, and I love you all very much. Please forget everything that you remember about our relationship in our old time line. Everything is completely different now."

"I know," Harry said, quietly, a small smile playing on his lips. _'He is really completely different from the inside and outside, much nicer than before. If not for his tall figure, his eyes and his voice, I'd think he was someone else_,' he thought.

"Yes, tonight is the Leaving Feast," the Potions Master added. "Why?"

Harry sighed. "On the one hand, because I'd like to attend the Leaving Feast and see who my new friends and classmates are, and on the other hand, because I haven't got any Christmas presents for anyone yet, and before thinking about what to give them, I should at least know for whom I need a present."

Severus smirked, amusement clearly written on his face. "Well, as to whom to give, I'm sure that your mother and I can give you a rough outline, knowing whith whom you have been exchanging Christmas and birthday gifts during the last few years. Concerning the Leaving Feast, it depends on your condition. If your mother deems you well enough to attend dinner in the Great Hall, even if only for a little while, you may do so." He leaned over to place Aidan's green toy dragon back onto the sofa, before adding, "You could ask Niamh if she'd accompany you." Seeing that Harry looked at him, incredulously, he explained, "We spoke with the children, of course not in detail, but just enough for them to understand that there are some things, which you don't remember at the moment. If you take her with her, you can be sure that you won't attract much attention, because your sister is like a mascot to all Slytherins. She will perfectly divert everyone's attention. Moreover, I'm sure that she'll interfere if anyone asked you anything, which you don't comprehend."

Harry chuckled in understanding. "Oh well, that's a good idea then. I hope she'll agree to come with me."

"She surely will," Severus replied, smirking. "As to what to give to your friends, I'd suggest to brew something."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, and he tried to sit up without disturbing the sleeping children, unconsciously kicking Aidan's dragon onto the floor again. "Would that be all right, sir? But what could I brew?"

"Easy Harry," Severus said, shaking his head in annoyance at the boy's sudden enthusiasm. "In your first Hogwarts year, you made fruit drops for everyone, in your second year it was fruit essence to put into their milk or tea. I was wondering if you'd like to brew something completely different this year." Seeing that Harry hung on his lips, he continued, "I have two suggestions. "One would be a different kind of prank potion for each of them, which they could use to prank their friends. Harmless potions of course that make their friends sing or breathe bubbles. The other would be to brew prank drops for your friends, which actually prank your friends."

"The first suggestion," Harry replied immediately. "That would be awesome, sir. I'd need to make a different potion for everyone though. Can we brew them right away?"

Before Severus could voice an annoyed reply, Lily entered the room, smiling at the sight of her younger children. "Who is going to entertain them tonight when they don't want to sleep after resting so much in the morning?" she queried, shaking her head, before she cast Harry a sharp look. "How are you feeling, sweetie?" she asked gently.

"Fine Mum," Harry replied quickly. "May we go and brew some potions please?"

Lily looked at her husband in exasperation. "Severus, you're absolutely irresponsible. Harry is sick and has not even his memories back. If he was a complete dunderhead at Potions in his old time like you told me, how is he supposed to correctly brew anything, especially if he is not really well? Maybe this time you could think of something else than potions."

_tbc..._


	23. 23 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>23 December<strong>

Harry inwardly sighed. _'Having parents is nice but can be annoying at times_,' he thought, feeling very happy to have such a caring family. "No Mum, Dad had a brilliant idea, and I'd really love to brew these potions. I promise that I'll be careful."

"I won't leave him alone," Severus reassured his wife, who, after a quick wand check on Harry, grudgingly allowed him to spend a little while in the potions lab with his father.

"In the afternoon though, not now," she said sternly.

HP

After lunch, which was very turbulent, because Niamh did not want to eat her peas and managed to kick them all over the room using accidental magic, Severus took Niamh and Aidan to the Longbottoms' quarters, where Alice Longbottom, Harry's godmother, usually occupied the Snape children together with Neville's young brothers in the afternoon.

_'So nice that Neville and his family live at Hogwarts, too_,' Harry thought as he eagerly followed his father into his private lab, which he could only very faintly remember.

However, when the Potions Master began to instruct him how to prepare certain ingredients, Harry realised that he had far more knowledge about the proper brewing of potions than he would have only from his experiences in the old time line.

"Of course, you can't watch all memories that you retrieve; otherwise it would take you years to adapt. Many memories just settle down in your mind, and you'll never know except for when you need them or your mind calls them to the front when they are triggered by something," Severus explained, patiently, when Harry voiced his thoughts.

Harry realized happily that Severus did not help but watch his every move, ready to correct if needed. However, he managed to flawlessly brew five different potions, for which his father had laid out the recipes.

"Excuse me, Dad, but can you tell me the effects of these potions?" Harry hesitantly asked, when he bottled a large phial of the last potion.

Severus quirked an eyebrow. "Can't you assess the effect from the ingredients?" he queried; however, seeing that Harry was still very pale and seemed to be exhausted from the brewing, he pointed to the first phial.

"This one makes people, who consume it, speak backwards."

"Oh, I think I'm going to give this one to Hermione. She might need it, when her friends don't want to study or ask too many stupid questions," Harry decided, grinning.

"The next one causes people to sing instead of speak every word," Severus continued, smirking.

"For Neville," Harry decided, writing the name of the Hufflepuff onto the phial.

"The next one," Severus said thoughtfully, glancing at the phial, "makes the victims wiggle their ears instead of speaking."

"I'll give this to Blaise," Harry said, chuckling, holding out the next phial to his father.

"This one makes people blow bubbles into the air, whenever they open their mouths. I'd suggest giving this one to Alina Potter. I don't know if you remember her, as she didn't even exist in our old time line. She is a Gryffindor third year and your co-captain on the Hogwarts Quidditch team," Severus explained, unobtrusively observing his son's expressions.

"Hogwarts Quidditch team?" Harry asked in disbelief. "I've never heard of such a thing."

Severus smirked. "Well, you're the captain, and I'll see to it that you'll retrieve your memories about your Quidditch activities before the end of the winter holidays."

"Thank you, Dad," Harry said gratefully, sighing in relief. _'I'm so glad that he is my father in this new time. He is really willing to help me and even knows how to do it._'

"The last phial causes the victims to grunt in morse code," Severus informed him, "and you should give it to Millicent Bulstrode. With this you have covered your five best friends."

With a flick of his wand, he cleaned up the lab, causing Harry to cast him an incredulous look. "It's only because you're not well and should rest for a while if you intend to grace your friends with your presence at the Leaving Feast," Severus sneered, causing Harry to once again thank his father profusely.

_'Speaking of pranks_,' he mused as he trailed behind his father to the living room, _'maybe I should do something to prank everyone in the Great Hall tonight. Pity that I can't use the pranks, which Rolanda taught me in the old time line, because McGonagall would immediately know that it was me_.'

_tbc... _

_Thanks to the kind readers who reviewed! More tomorrow..._


	24. 24 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>24 December<strong>

In the evening, Harry attended the Leaving Feast at the Slytherin House table together with his four-year-old sister Niamh. Blaise and Millicent immediately made space for Harry, while Niamh climbed onto Pansy Parkinson's lap.

Harry cast her a horrified look that soon turned into disbelief as he observed how gentle the Slytherin girl greeted his sister. _'People seem to be very different from my old time_,' he mused. _'I wonder if that's all just only because Voldemort doesn't exist and there aren't any Death Eaters_.'

He unobtrusively glanced at Draco Malfoy, who, to his surprise, returned the view and said, "Good to have you back, Harry, even if it's only for the Feast. Are you going to spend the night in the dormitory?"

"I'm not sure if my parents will let me go, but I can ask. Why?"

"Because we wanna have a party," Niamh threw in, causing the whole Slytherin table to laugh.

"And to exchange some Christmas presents," Millicent added, smiling at the younger girl.

_'Thank Merlin I bottled a second phial of everything_,' Harry thought, relieved. _'Apparently Dad doesn't know everything that's going on in Slytherin_.'

When the food popped up on the tables, Niamh came over to him and made herself comfortable on his lab, eagerly reaching for his fork.

"Hey, little one," Harry weakly protested, only earning a smile in return, causing him to roll his eyes in annoyance as he wished his napkin into a second fork. _'Well at least I don't have to feed her_,' he mused, casting his sister an amused look.

Only when the last piece of the delicious meal was vanished from his plate did Niamh give up her favourite spot on her adored big brother's lap and chose Millicent to sit on.

Harry relaxed a bit and suddenly remembered the prank, which he had decided to play. _'Now before the desert pops up is the best time_,' he thought and turned his eyes to the huge Christmas tree in the front of the Hall. Knowing that he was capable of wish magic in this time line, he did not even pull his wand, but just wished all the decoration on the tree to turn into self-duplicating chocolate frogs.

An instant later, in front of the whole school, chocolate frogs began to jump from the Christmas tree. They hopped all over the Great Hall, jumped onto the House tables, and a few minutes later, every student and teacher had their own chocolate frog standing in front of them, while more and more chocolate frogs emerged from the branches of the tree, ending up running around the Great Hall. '_Enough_,' Harry finally thought and wished the frogs on the tree back into their previous state.

"Well, that was an awesome display," Blaise Zabini was the first to speak up. "Whoever did that, well done."

"Probably the Weasleys again," Draco said, groaning in annoyance. "We really need to come up with something spectacular next year."

"No, that was not the Weasley twins. That was my bestest big brother," Niamh announced in her high, childish voice, which could be heard all over the Great Hall.

Harry could not stop himself from blushing, especially when he felt hundreds of eyes from all House tables turning to him. However, an instant later, something happened that made him want to be able to hide in a mouse hole.

When the Headmistress rose from her seat and announced, "Twenty points to Slytherin for an excellent Transfiguration and Charms display, Mr. Snape," huge tumults broke out at the Slytherin table.

Seeing Harry glance around in confusion, Blaise explained, "With that the House cup is ours. We were only ten points behind Ravenclaw. You're awesome, Harry."

_'Oh no_,' Harry groaned inwardly, when Professor MacGonagall stood again and indeed informed the school that Slytherin had not only won the Quidditch cup but also the House cup. "Congratulation Slytherin; that was a last-minute victory," she said, clearly amused, before she waved her wand, banishing the remaining chocolate frogs from the floor.

_'So much about being no-one in this time line_,' Harry thought as he walked up to the Head table after dinner to ask his parents if he could participate in the Slytherin Christmas party and spend the night in his dormitory.

"Of course you may attend the party, sweetie; if you feel well enough, you may go," Lily agreed. "However, since you're not completely recovered yet, I'd like you to stay at home overnight. Please be back at curfew. Are you going to take Niamh and Aidan?"

Before Harry could agree to anything, his small siblings shouted, "Yesssss," and clung to his robes.

_tbc..._


	25. 25 December

****Advent's Calendar 2011**  
><strong>by Healer Pomfrey<strong>**

_Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!_

* * *

><p><strong>25 December<strong>

The House party in Slytherin was a lot of fun, and if Harry had been anxious if he would get along without remembering anything of his life in his new House, he was surprised that he did not have any problems whatsoever. _'Everyone is so much nicer than in my old time line_,' he thought, resolving to speak with his father about the effects of Voldemort's absence in the new time line later on.

Fortunately and unfortunately, his being together with his friends and House mates for a few hours triggered many memories, and during the next few days, Harry spent many hours being trapped in memories. Whenever he woke up, he was suffering from headaches and was afraid to close his eyes in order to get some relief from the pain, fearing that he would have to watch even more memories.

However, to his great relief, his parents were always nearby, and when he woke up from his dreams, either Lily or Severus were with him, ready to answer his questions and reassure him where necessary.

One morning, Harry woke up, feeling very much refreshed like after a good night's sleep. _'Finally a night without new memories_,' he thought, happily. _'My new life is so good. I still have good friends like Hermione and Neville, my new House mates are all very nice, and my family is absolutely awesome. Today, I will go and thank Poppy, Minerva, Rolanda and also Hagrid for luring Voldemort into the forest and have Aragon kill him. They saved so many people's lives, and for many people including myself, life is a lot better now_.'

That decision in mind, he opened his eyes, only now realising that his mother was sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Good morning, Mum. I'm sorry, but I have an errand to run. I'll be back in an hour," he said, tentatively, hesitantly waiting for Lily's reaction.

"Good morning, son, and Happy Christmas to you," Lily replied, looking at him with a combination of amusement and surprise.

"Happy Christmas, Mum," Harry replied, instinctively pulling his mother into a light hug. When Lily finally let go, he asked, "Mum, could you please just transfigure my pyjamas into normal clothes? I'd like to go and speak with four of the professors and thank them for changing the future. If I hurry, I'll be back in time for breakfast."

Lily smiled at her son in understanding and quickly waved her wand over him, changing his attire to blue trousers with a white shirt and dark blue robes with a fine gold lining. "We'll have breakfast in the Great Hall this morning," she informed him. "Please be on time. Niamh and Aidan have been up since five asking for their presents."

Harry chuckled. "And they have to wait until after breakfast? Poor little ones." With that he left his room after Lily and headed out into the dungeon corridor.

While he walked through the empty corridors, he pulled a tissue out of his robe pocket and transfigured it into a beautiful poinsettia pot. _'Where should I go first, Rolanda or Poppy?_' he wondered. _'Rolanda was the one who spent the most time with me in the past, but going back to their own time to help me must have been Poppy's idea_.' Finally, he made his decision and entered the completely empty hospital wing, chuckling when he saw the three witches having tea together in the Mediwitch's office. He quickly transfigured two more tissues into poinsettias and placed one in front of each of the three witches.

"I'm sorry to disturb you on Christmas morning," he said, hesitantly. "I just came to thank you for everything that you have done for me and my family. Can you please tell me a bit more about it?"

"Thank you so much for the flowers," Rolanda Hooch was the first to reply. "They're beautiful."

Pomfrey motioned Harry to take a seat and slowly began to speak. "At first, I felt like a murderer," she admitted. "Together with Hagrid and your father, we made a detailed plan before going back to the past. Back in our time, we asked the teachers about the Chamber of Secrets in front of the whole school. I also talked with Tom about the Chamber, when we met in the library, and he told me that he would have to be the one to find it, as he was the heir of Slytherin." Seeing that Harry was listening intensely, she continued, "One day then, Hagrid told him that he had found the entrance, and that it was in the forest. Of course Tom couldn't resist and asked Hagrid to take him there. Hagrid agreed and took him straight to where Aragon lives with his whole family. Tom never returned to the school." She let out a long sigh. "You can't believe how horrible I felt about the whole matter. However, when the years passed and I got to know your parents, I knew that it had been the right thing to do."

"Exactly," McGonagall agreed. "It was the right thing to do, and I'm very happy for you and your family, Harry. I'm also very proud of you. You seem to have adapted to the new time line very well."

Harry could not help blushing at the unexpected praise. "Anyway, thank you very much for giving me a real family," he said, unobtrusively wiping a tear from his cheek. "Now I also need to go and thank Hagrid," he added, raising from his chair in determination.

However, McGonagall kept him back. "No sweetie, Hagrid is already in the Great Hall. He is playing Santa for the smaller children, which means your and Mr. Longbottom's siblings. I suggest that we all go to the Great Hall now and watch the spectacle. Breakfast is going to commence in a few minutes anyway."

Harry observed in amusement how Niamh received a present from Santa Claus. Hugging the pink toy unicorn gift close to her chest, she climbed onto Harry's lap, happily leaning into his robes as she began to play with her new toy, while Aidan stood in front of Santa.

_'They're so cute_,' Harry mused, inwardly chuckling as he observed his parents unobtrusively kiss each other. _'And as much as I would have liked to get to know James Potter, I'm glad that Mum chose Dad to marry him this time. He is a wonderful father. How funny that I don't even look much different from before though, apart from my silky hair_.'

He was brought back to reality, when Professor McGonagall told the children to sit down at the table and said, "Merry Christmas everyone."

"Merry Christmas," Harry replied, simultaneously with everyone else, thinking, _'I'm definitely the happiest boy in the world having such a wonderful family. I don't need anything else for Christmas_.'

**THE END - MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

_Thank you for your kind feedback throughout this story!_


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